Across the Waters
by XxFuyukaina-BakaxX
Summary: Haruka is a dolphin adopted by Makoto's family into a pod of orcas after being orphaned by a shark attack. The two are inseparable until an unfortunate event brings them worlds apart. Makoto does everything he can to bridge the gap, Rei and Nagisa are so gay for each other, and Rin can't seem to catch a break.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

"Haruka! The pods leaving, we need to keep moving along."

Haruka looked up from his lazing about at the edge of the territory the orca pod had been using. He was leaning against a rock, resting his head and wondering about the vastness of the ocean and the oddness of his life. He drew lazy patterns on the gray smooth surface of his resting place. His tail curled slightly and the blue gray of its back blended quite nicely with the rock. He rested his slim pale face on his other hand, only having his blue eyes glance up at the voice's owner.

The orca floated above him, just about his size, and with a soft smile on his pleasant face. His shoulders were much broader, his arms more muscular, and his eyes a shining green. Soft brown locks, much fluffier and lighter than his own dark hair, floated about his face from the water. The long black and white tail swished lazily behind him, keeping him afloat and at level with his friend. A hand extended to him, an offering he graciously took. "Moving North?" Haruka asked, hauling himself away from his ledge to float beside the killer whale.

"Yep! We're heading for colder waters, hopefully there'll be some seals." Makoto, the orca, continued, thinking aloud, "Oh and I'm sure we'll see some fish and mackerel for you." He added quickly, as if reading the dark haired boy's mind.

Because Haruka was not, in fact, a killer whale. He was a dolphin, orphaned at a young age from a vicious shark attack that decimated most of his pod and all of his close family. He remembered the ferocious night quite clearly, remembered the bitter taste of blood swirling around him in the ocean, remembered the shrill shrieks of dying cetaceans. Most importantly, he remembered the same offered hand, although much smaller at the time, bringing him out of his hiding spot and into the protective company of a friendly orca family.

Where he had remained ever since, mostly glued to Makoto's side.

Their hands remained connected as they swam toward the moving pod of a number of orca families, Makoto's being only one of them. The massive creatures moved deliberately through the water just ahead of them, their large dorsal fins occasional breaking through the sea surface. "Haru, when we breach could you do some flips in the air? They look so amazing when you do them!" Makoto spoke up, looking over at his friend with an encouraging, excited smile.

"Maybe." Haruka responded, though he, himself, enjoyed his acrobatics and was certainly going to do them. He just liked being difficult. Makoto didn't seem to mind though as he smiled more broadly in response, and quickened his pace. Soon enough they had caught up to the group, and remained in the outer rings.

Makoto let go of Haruka's hand, "I'm going to go check on Mama and the twins ok? I'll be right back!" He notified, ducking into the group and out of Haruka's sight. Makoto's mother had recently given birth to two new calves, and his friend had not stopped talking of the subject ever since. He was a proud older brother, and very impatient to show them off to the world. Unfortunately, they were still too young to leave their mother's side.

The dolphin did some lazy spins in the water, wanting to save the more advanced tricks for Makoto's gaze but also wanting to stave off his boredom. He never liked when the pod decided to move spots, it required following the group rather than simply swimming freely about at his own pace and leisure.

He kept his distance from the pod, feeling all the more an outsider without his near constant companion. The majority of the whales ignored his presence while still giving him the courtesy of allowing him to stay. It was only Makoto and his family that welcomed him so warmly. He didn't really mind though. He enjoyed keeping to himself and was perfectly fine with the arrangement they had.

He glanced at the group again, wondering when his best friend would return. He couldn't help his wandering eye, and studied the mammals. He wished he could capture their form. He was in awe at the size of them. Killer whales were formidable killers, with a formidable size to match. Makoto was still about as big as him, but he knew it wouldn't be long until he dwarfed him as well. And yet, he could never see Makoto hurt anyone out of malice. Sure he helped his family with the hunt, but he was terrified of any darkness the ocean had to offer, and clung to Haruka's side most always.

Haruka let a small smile slip his normally monotone features at the thought. A killer whale hiding behind a dolphin. A reality he was all too familiar with. He turned his head more as a burst of motion caught his sight as Makoto rushed out of the pod and toward him, a giant smile on his lit up face.

"Haruka! The twins are starting to talk! A lot too!" He informed, his face showing every form of elation as he caught up to his friend.

Haruka decided to let the smile stay, "I'm glad."

Makoto grinned ever brighter, letting out a light laugh and motioning for the other to swim up with him. The dark haired boy readily followed, poking his head out to the surface and taking a nice gulp of air.

Makoto breached beside him, shaking off some of the droplets from his brown hair and letting out more of his happy, boisterous laugh. He splashed his friend playfully, but Haruka only flipped his hair out of his eyes before diving back down.

He resurfaced soon enough, gracing his friend with a front flip. Makoto watched in awe at the show, as the rest of his pod soon breached for air as well. He waved at his mother and father from where he remained at the outer edge. They waved back and ducked back down.

Makoto dove down and surged back up for his own jump, which was all he could do. He couldn't do flips or dances like Haruka. But he didn't mind all that much. Watching Haruka do them was enough for him. Instead he simply dove right back down with his friend and swum along with him.

They played for quite some time along side the moving pod, making sure not to fall too far behind. It wasn't until they finally tired out and decided to just swim lazily that their hands rejoined each others at their sides.

"Haruka…Come meet my little brother and sister." Makoto offered quietly, tugging lightly in the direction of the black and white whales. Haruka hesitated, never really liking squeezing into the inner rings of the pod itself. He felt like an intrusion. However, Makoto's smile made him let out a tired sigh and finally nod.

The brunet led his best friend with a firm grasp on his hand into the swimming mammals hoard, deep within to where the new mothers swam with their calves. Haruka stayed close to his escort and watched as no one gave him a second glance, other than the curious children.

"Mama!" Makoto greeted, swimming up next to his mother, she smiled at him in turn, before her eyes fell on his companion.

"Ah, Haruka! It's been quite a while." She greeted with a warm smile. Haruka gave a polite nod in return. "Oh! Haruka, have you met Ran and Ren? Ran, Ren come over here." She beckoned, ushering the twins with her long tail. Two small orcas came into view, approaching with apprehension and keeping close to their mother's side. They were half Haruka's own size, but he knew they would eventually be twice as large as him. It was odd living with orcas.

"Ran, Ren, this is Haruka! My friend." Makoto introduced more properly, smiling at his siblings and hoping they would behave. They seemed a little less tense at their brother's words and leaned a bit closer.

"Mama…he's blue." Ran spoke quietly, confused, her eyebrows drawn together as she tried to figure out how this was possible. She swam slightly closer and poked at his small curved dorsal fin.

Makoto and his mother both laughed, while Haruka only let out a huff of indignation. "I'm a dolphin, so I look like this." Was his only response to the curious girl. She didn't seem satisfied with the answer, and continued her probing and investigating.

Ren remained silent but came forward as well, sliding a hand along the blue gray scales of Haruka's tail, inspecting them closely. He then circled his arms around the others bare chest and attached himself to it.

Makoto and his mother seemed to laugh some more while Haruka had trouble keeping up with their swimming pace with the new addition to his body. Luckily Makoto kept a firm grip on his hand and kept him from lagging too far. Ren did not see an issue with his new home, nuzzling into Haruka's chest.

"He likes you." Their mother smiled, but seeing Haruka's tense, uncomfortable body she soon added, "Now, Ren leave poor Haruka alone, they'll be plenty of times for you two to play when you're a little older." She beckoned the pair back with a swish of her tail. Ren complied slowly, slipping off the teen and swimming back to his mother's side, his sister following after.

"Alright now, you two can go run off and have your fun. Just don't stray too far alright?" She continued, shooing her son and his best friend off and out of the circle. Makoto nodded, waving a last goodbye before swimming back out, Haruka right beside him, as always.

As they regained their place in the outer rings, they fell into a peaceful comfortable silence. They swam at a regular place, letting the water flow around them easily. Haruka tucked his hand back in Makoto's own in order to be able to simply close his eyes and swim, knowing the other would lead him the right way.

It was in this silence that Makoto finally spoke up, "Haruka…Do you ever wish you were with other dolphins instead?" His words were quiet, pensive, and his face expressing a serious aura. For Makoto his family was his world…it was hard to imagine not being with them.

Haruka opened one eye to glance over at the other with an annoyed-why-are-you-interrupting-my-swimming-peace -for-this look. Makoto gave him a sheepish grin.

"Not really." Haruka finally answered, closing his eyes once more to feel the ocean currents across his skin.

"How come?" The brunet probed, continuing to look at the other.

The dolphin shrugged his slim shoulders, and the question was dropped completely. Nevertheless, Haruka squeezed Makoto's hand briefly, reassuringly, and Makoto seemed satisfied with that.

"There better be mackerel where we're going."

Makoto laughed and the mood lightened immensely with the sound, he nudged the other playfully and the two started swimming more energetically into the distant ocean.

And Makoto knew, deep down, in that shrugged off answer, that the pod didn't even matter to Haruka. That all that mattered was Makoto's ever present company, and the fact that it would remain just that—ever present.

At least, that was what the pair had always thought.

* * *

Free! Multific ho! Writing about dolphins and orcas this is what its come to

I have this entire thing planned out and its so far fun to write so hopefully itll go smoothing.

Lets pray school doesn't slow me down!

Reviews are always lovely dears :)

thank you for reading! Be sure to check out my free! oneshots


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Haruka continued swimming, unabated by his best friend's whines and pleas to return to the safety of the pod. They were older now, teenagers, and swam away from the group all the time, sometimes not meeting up again for a day or two. Haruka knew that wasn't the problem for his friend, the problem was where they were currently heading.

Haruka had a fascination with the ocean. He wanted to explore, he wanted to search out every crevice, every dark corner, every reef and gaze upon it. He wanted to swim the entire globe, to have danced in the waters of every ocean and sea. To feel the different currents swirl around his slim body. To have the flow of the ocean lead him through life.

Makoto wasn't like that. He preferred the familiarity of his pod and family and of Haruka. He preferred the wide open ocean close to the surface, where the sun could still permeate through its semi transparent edge. He preferred the safety and predictability of his matriarch's route, of his fellow orcas and of Haruka's hand in his own.

Still, Makoto cherished Haruka's presence and indulged him in his little adventures. However, what Haruka was asking of him now was too much for his timid heart.

"Haruka, please!" He continued, tugging him back with his trembling hands. He'd grown much bigger than the other, but he never liked using that to his advantage because it didn't seem quite fair. As such, the dolphin simply pulled away from the tug, edging deeper into the depths of the sea toward the mouth of a menacing cave.

"Just wait out here if you're so scared." He called with a huff and roll of his eyes. _You have nothing to fear in the whole wide world, Makoto. You're a young adult killer whale. _He couldn't help but snap in his own mind. He would never say that to his friend's face though. Still, if the slump in the others shoulders meant anything, it seemed he had read his mind. He'd forgotten the brunet could do that so easily.

Nevertheless, Haruka kept swimming into the dark cave until he could barely see in front of him. Makoto swam closely behind, clinging tightly to his arm and absolutely shaking. He buried his brunet head into the darker haired boy's shoulder, clenching his eyes shut as if that blind darkness was better than the identical black shade of reality.

Haruka's tail brushed across the rocky ground and he pulled back in shock, making Makoto let out a shrill scream at the sudden movement. "It's just the cave floor." The dolphin assured, "It seems to be getting shallower…"

"We're gonna beach ourselves and suffocate and die!" Makoto cried, the sound muffled by the others bare shoulder, "Let's go back, Haru please!" His grip on the smaller boy tightened but Haruka continued relentless, down the narrowing corridor until he was forced to stop.

"I think this is the end of the cave…" He murmured aloud, feeling around at the wall in front of him. He felt an empty space near the floor, finding a hole, slightly larger than himself. "Wait, there might be more…I don't know if you can fit." He continued, ducking down to inspect it more closely.

"Haru, wait! Don't go in there please!" Makoto begged, trying to hold the squirming mammal back.

"I'll go in for a second and come out. Trust me."

Makoto hesitated, letting out a loud pained sigh before releasing his grip on the other entirely. His hands in turn went to clutching each other. Without another word, the dolphin swam through the hole and out the other side. Makoto waited impatiently, hugging himself and pretending he was in open clear, waters rather than this dark, cramped cave. He heard Haruka gasp from the other side and immediately pressed himself against the wall.

"Haruka?!" He called with slight worry, knocking on the rocky surface. "Haruka are you ok?!"

"You need to come in here…" Was his only response, and he frowned at the vagueness of it. He ducked down to the hole. Pulling his upper body through only to have his tall dorsal fin impede any further progress. He whined, scrabbling in a valiant effort before giving up.

"I can't." He informed, moving his head about to search out the dolphin. It was lighter here, but still dark enough that one could only make out the slightest of outlines of forms. His best friend appeared before him, looking over his conundrum with critical blue eyes. Makoto let out a tired sigh as he lay on the cave floor while Haruka pulled at the weaker surface around the hole in an effort to make it somewhat bigger.

"You should stop eating so much, you're too big." Haruka huffed, chipping away at the hole slowly. Makoto watched with a soft smile, feeling less tense with the other near him.

"Maybe if you ate things other than mackerel you would get bigger." The brunet countered playfully. Haruka rolled his eyes and pushed Makoto back through the hole. The taller let out a shout of surprise, "Don't put me back in the dark!" He pleaded, moving to slip back through the whole and into the fellow cetacean's safe proximity.

"Help me open up the hole then." Was the dolphin's only response as he went back to his job. Makoto mumbled out a fine and went to work as well, in the dark and silence. His fingers trembled because he was still quite frightened; although, when they brushed against Haruka's own he felt reassured by his presence.

"What's so special about it anyway?" Makoto asked, the hole about big enough for him to fit. Haruka didn't respond, but instead offered a hand through the opening. Makoto took it, slipping completely through with only the edge of his fin scraping against the rock. Haruka continued his ascent upwards, breaking the surface and taking in a much needed breath of air. Makoto followed suit, shaking his brown hair and blinking his eyes open.

He let out a gasp.

Haruka felt a small smile tug at his lips.

It was a small cave with a small opening at the very top where the moon shone through, filling the space with its dim shining light. It gave the place an unearthly glow and made the water shimmer beautifully as it reflected the numerous stars above. Makoto looked around in awe before finally resting his eyes on Haruka's and smiling happily.

Haruka wasn't looking at him but could feel the warmth of the others gaze on his skin and it felt as if _he_ was glowing rather than the water around him.

"This will be our secret." The dolphin murmured after a moment, swimming lazily about the pool. Makoto gave a silent nod, watching his best friend move gracefully through the still water. "How long are we staying in the area?"

"At least a few more days if not more." The brunet assured, joining the other in his slow circles. Haruka hummed in response and they let the silence hang comfortably between them and the stars.

* * *

"We need to mark the spot before we leave." Haruka insisted, swimming hurriedly over to their secret cave. Makoto swam quickly behind him, worrying his lip at leaving the pod just as they were about to begin moving to a new location. He'd been with his mother and siblings when Haruka had ushered him to follow, leaving them behind with a quick promise to return in the midst of the busy planning. Organizing the pod to move out after such a long stay in an area usually started quiet chaotically.

They reached the cave and Haruka began looking around for some sort of marker. Makoto fidgeted about, his green eyes darting around the area. "What about that large black rock?" He wondered, swimming over to said structure, tucked a little further down. The dolphin joined him, and the pair decided to try to lift it together, and maneuver their way back to the cave entrance. It was heavy but definitely do-able, especially with both pairs of arms and patient swimmi-

"Mako!"

Makoto froze, letting go of the rock and whirling around. Haruka gasped at the sudden full weight of the rock and was forced to drop the mineral, watching helplessly as it descended to the dark depths of the ocean floor, out of sight. There wasn't any time to dwell on the loss.

"Ran, Ren what are you two doing out here!" Makoto shouted, seeing his twin younger siblings swimming through wide, open, _dangerous_ waters toward him. They were older now, but still much too young to be this far from the family. Makoto and Haruka were still relatively low and hidden in the darkness of the overhanging rock barrier where they had picked out the obsidian colored mineral. As such, Ran and Ren didn't immediately see them, and stopped in their swimming to look around for their older brother after hearing the sound of his voice.

Makoto let out a frustrated sigh and went to swim out to them when Haruka saw _it_ and nudged his arm. He then saw _it_ too, his entire form tensed and he quickly darted his eyes between _it_ and his siblings. A terror coursed through his large body at the sight of _it_. Especially as _it_ was continually creeping closer to his precious baby sister brother. Constantly coming closer. And closer. And closer.

Haruka could feel his best friend trembling beside him, his eyes glued to the scene but incapable of moving. So Haruka made a decision.

"I'll handle him. _You_ get your brother and sister back to your mother." Haruka hissed out quickly, much to Makoto's surprise. And before he could even dare protest the plan, Haruka had darted out of their cover. Ran and Ren grinned at the sight of their friend and moved to swim after him. They soon gasped, however, when their dolphin friend collided with the shark they had not even seen. They shrieked, freezing up, as the predator pulled back in confusion before locking on to its aggressor.

Makoto grabbed a twin in each arm and hauled them away as quick as his powerful tail would take him. Snapped back to reality, the smaller orcas clung to him and watched over his shoulders at the fight they were being taken from. Makoto gritted his teeth, eyes peeled for any sign of the rest of his family. The pod had moved from whence he'd last left them. He was losing precious time.

"Both of you get to Mom right now! Tell her there's a shark in the perimeter and the family needs to move out now!" He ordered, as soon as his pod came into sight, and shoved the pair in their direction. The two calves seemed to hesitate a moment, but Makoto's angry face and loud, "Go!" quickly had them turning and diving for the safety of the pod. The orca watched them go for a moment before turning right around and rushing to his best friend, swimming faster than he'd ever swum before.

Haruka pulled away from the shark, slapping him with his tail and swimming backwards, mindful to go the opposite way from where Makoto had gone. The shark was faster though and lunged for the dolphin, pulling him back into his dangerous embrace. Haruka tried to push away and mistakenly placed his arm in a vulnerable position. He let out a loud scream as the shark bit into his flesh, hearing a sickening snap and seeing the blood gush out in front of him.

Using his tail he shoved himself off the other, trying to get some space between them. His arm hung uselessly beside him, continuing to spill the crimson liquid into the blue ocean. The redheaded shark before him's eyes seemed to shine at the sight and he licked his lips hungrily, flashing a number of sharp, red tinted teeth.

And in that moment, Haruka felt like the small helpless child watching his parents being torn apart. And he was scared, truly terrifyingly scared. He saw the shark about to spring back toward him and looked around helplessly before deciding to just swim up, right as the shark made his move. He was able to land a half smack on his rival's face with the end of his tail, but it only made the predator growl and grow angrier.

The redhead surged after him, persistent, and clearly _very_ hungry. Haruka kept his eyes focused on the ocean's surface until he broke thought it. Springing out of the water and jumping into the air, before diving back down.

In the distance, a local fisherman shouted at his fellow workers to look over at the sight. They had just finished reeling in their catch for the day and were on their way back to the distant shoreline. Before them a dolphin continued jumping out of the water, diving back down and doing the occasional erratic flip. They found themselves in awe of the show, counting their blessings at being delighted with such a sight.

However, one soon realized that something was indeed a miss, "Hold on a second…" He mumbled, "I think the poor girl's hurt." He pointed at the half torn flipper, bleeding steadily into the water.

It was in that moment they noticed the shark chasing the injured creature from below the water. The assorted fishermen frowned, and watched on. It wasn't until they saw the shark come up and take another bite at the suffering mammal that they turned to one another, a growing sympathy shared in their hearts. "Should we…help the girl…?"

They started preparing the hoops and creating a space on deck.

Below surface Haruka clutched his bleeding, useless arm, twice bitten. Tears stung at his eyes but he continued his half hazard swimming and breaching in an effort to tire out the beast. It was to no avail, as the shark suddenly sped up and grabbed a hold of him.

Haruka struggled weakly, angrily glaring at the grinning face in front of him. He was dead. He knew it. But he refused to go down so easily so he never stopped his vain squirming. He was losing so much blood already. He stared at the sharp teeth about to graze his neck and-

But the pain never came as a powerful force shoved the shark right off him and had him spinning away. Haruka blinked his fading blue eyes to see Makoto staring at him with such concern, large powerful tail having just saved him from death.

"Haruka!" The brunet shouted, swimming closer and inspecting the weakening boy, "Haruka!" He repeated desperately. From afar the shark shook itself, gathering back his thoughts that had been knocked out of him. He didn't have a death wish. He was no match against an almost full grown killer whale, and he could tell his side would be bruised from that blow. Still, he hung back. There was no way the dolphin was living after that. He would just wait and hopefully scavenging something for his troubles.

Above the fisherman were shouting, "This poor girl's got a killer whale after her now!" One of them called, readying their catching hoop. He lowered it into the water expertly, putting it over the dolphin's head and starting to pull him up.

Makoto was still reeling from the sight of his best friend bleeding profusely, of his arm just _hanging_ there and of the way his beautiful blue eyes seem clouded and distant. He stared at the foreign object, appearing around his dying friend from the heavens, in confusion before going to shove it off of him. Unfortunately, another fisherman took the blunt end of one of his other instruments and whacked the creature away. Makoto grunted, losing his grip on the dolphin as his vision danced for a moment. In that precious moment, Haruka, limp, was taken out of the water.

The orca immediately surfaced, watching as Haruka's form was placed on the boat and out of his sight. He rammed at the wooden structure angrily, banging on it, pounding on it, rocking it, anything. "HARUKA!" He shrieked, clawing at the boat desperately to no avail.

Two fishermen focused on keeping their injured charged wet and hydrated and secure. One started steering the boat and hitting the gas for the far off coast. The last watched the hungry orca slam into their ship and continue to chase them. "I'm sorry boy…" He muttered with a slight frown, "I know you're hungry but it's a dolphin..." He reasoned, before reaching down to one of their caught fish and throwing it over to him as a pity snack. With that he turned to help the pair tending to their new patient.

Makoto ignored the offering and followed the boat until it became a distant speck, unable to keep up with its motor. He was tired, the adrenaline had left him, and his tail throbbed from the powerful blow he'd delivered. He smacked the water angrily with a balled up fist, sinking down into the water in utter agony.

He'd lost him.

He clutched his face and curled up as he sank far into the ocean, not even caring how deep he got. He ended up on some jutted out rocky ledge and laid there for who knows how long. He'd lost him. He was gone. Gone to who knows where. He had failed to protect him.

_Why the hell had he let him go after the shark?_ Regret consumed his mind in a poisonous black swirl as he relived the moment, replaying it in any other possible way. _He was so stupid._ He could have forced Haruka to take his twins back and dealt with the shark himself. He was a killer whale, the shark would have left him alone.

His stupidity, his_ cowardice_ had just cost him the most important companion in his life.

His whole body shuddered, and he realized he was out of breath. He swam back up and breached the surface, gasping. He wiped at his face and saw the stars above him. He'd been lying immobile for a long time. But that wasn't the thought he dwelled on. Instead, he saw Haruka's peaceful, blissful face in that wonderful cave, as the stars lit him up.

And it was all too much.

The orca let out a long, lonely mournful wail into the vastness of the sea before slowly slipping back down into its hollow depths, heading back the way he had come.

* * *

"Rin?" A young female shark looked up from her resting spot in the dark hidden cave. Another shark came into her view, and she smiled up at him. He didn't return the expression, but glided down toward her.

"I didn't get you a killer whale." Rin muttered, offering her the dead fish he'd seen the fishers throw. She blinked at the offering, taking it and snapping it easily in two, giving him the other half. He took it hesitantly. He'd rather her have the entire pathetically small meal.

"I didn't actually expect you to!" She assured, munching on her meal greedily. She made no comment on her brother's prey, simply happy to be eating something. She had no room to talk after all, not anymore at least.

"I almost did." He continued, watching her eyes light up at that, "I almost got you _two_ in fact."

"Really, brother!?" She couldn't believe his words and gave him an incredulous look.

"There were these two young dumb ones, out in the opening, just waiting to be picked off." He explained, using his hands to set the scene. "But then-"

"Then their mom showed up?" She guessed, and he frowned at her interruption, waving her off.

"No, see the weird thing is this dolphin attacked me." He replied, making a motion with his one hand until it collided with his other one.

She blinked, "A dolphin?" The redhead nodded.

"And then I almost got you a dolphin to eat."

"I love dolphin meat!"

"Dont we all." Rin readily agreed, "And I had him too. He was basically dead, I'd bitten his arm almost off and the blood smelled _delicious_. But then this killer whale-"

"The young ones?" She offered, enraptured. Rin gritted his teeth, he just wanted to get though his story and shushed her.

"No, this other one from no where. He tail whipped me harder than you would believe! It was my kill, what a jerk." He huffed, rubbing at his still stinging side, "But nobody got him in the end, the humans hulled him up." He spat out, finishing his tale.

She frowned, eating up the rest of her small meal, "Humans ruin everything." She sighed out, sliding closer to her brother.

"That they do…" He agreed quietly, ghosting a finger over his sister's missing dorsal fin, the wound still fresh and healing. He felt his other hand tighten into an angry fist and clenched his sharp teeth together.

"I'll catch us some dolphin for sure tomorrow." He promised emptily, and the young girl hummed happily in response, closing her tired eyes. She didn't expect him to fulfill the deed, but was happy to support his words to assure him.

Rin looked up into the darkness of the water in front of their hiding spot, "Stupid humans…Stupid whales…Stupid dolphin." He muttered out with a grimace, sliding his fingers through his sisters long red hair as she slept pressed against him.

The world would be better without them.

* * *

And there's chapter two uwu

I'm planning on updating this fic every sunday! Hopefully college will be kind and allow me to stick with that plan.

hope you guys enjoy and review my lovelies


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Makoto didn't find his pod again for a number of days. He swam slowly, with little purpose. He barely ate. He merely moved forward at a sad, sad pace as life around him lost all meaning. Sometimes he contemplating not surfacing for air, but his body always forced that on him.

For the first time he found himself quite thankful that he was indeed an orca, and safe from virtually any other predator because he honestly was not paying attention to his surroundings nor was he willing to put up a fight if something did try to eat him. Still, he clung cruelly onto life.

His pod saw him before he saw them. He heard their cries and didn't even want to look up. A part of him wanted to swim away and hide in a dark cave and never emerge again. Yet, he remained still as he was soon surrounded by concerned familiar faces. His mother and father pushed their way through the ring, hugging him close to them. He felt like a small little calf and clung to them without another word. Shuddering and shivering and wailing.

The rest of the pod, not in his immediate family, quickly backed off to give them space, as he buried his face in his mothers neck and tried to calm himself. He was almost a grown man. He had to be strong…despite the world crumbling.

It was Ran who finally blurted out what was on everyone's mind, "Where's Haru?"

Makoto pulled back, wiping at his face and trying to stop his shivering. His family looked upon him with concern. "Was it…Was it the shark?" His mother finally asked, quietly.

Makoto shook his head, much to the surprise of the other orcas. "H-He was hurt b-by the shark." Makoto bit out, "But he was alive when I got to him and he w-would have been fine! He would have been fine…" His tail flipped at the water angrily in frustration, "But I was too slow and the humans-"

"Humans!?" His father repeated in shock, to which Makoto nodded quickly.

"Th-They took him. I followed the boat for as long as I could but…But i wasn't fast enough and-"

His mother drew him into a hug, smoothing his hair and shushing him softly. "I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry." She kept repeating into his ear and it was all he could do to not descend into a cacophony of sobs and wails. "But thank god you're ok." She continued, pulling back and smiling sadly at him. And it made him stop and stare at her and think.

Really think.

If he had been the one lost, would Haruka have been welcomed back into the pod? Or would they have cast him out and let him die. _Thank god _**_you're_**_ ok. _He repeated in his mind as he pulled away from his mother, who looked at him with surprise.

He felt sick.

"Makoto, you look starved, come lets get you some food."

Makoto couldn't really argue with those words and silently followed his family back to the pod. He clutched his hand into a fist. His fingers felt so empty.

He felt as if he had just been torn in half.

* * *

"Rei-chan!" Nagisa called, skipping his way over to the taller man with a pout, "You didn't come to lunch!" He hid his arms behind his back and leaned over to see what the blue haired man was up to. For some reason he hadn't turned around yet to greet or yell at him which was quite unusual.

"Sorry, Nagisa-kun." Rei waved off, standing over the scene unfolding before him. "Something came up."

"What's wrong?" Nagisa asked, suddenly worried as he tried to peer around his coworker curiously.

"Some fishermen caught an injured dolphin and brought him here." Rei explained, scooching over to the side to allow the shorter man an opportunity to see. "His flipper is badly damaged, we're lucky it wasn't ripped off completely or there would be nothing we could do. As such, the veterinarians believe they can patch him up, but full recovery is below 20 percent." He sighed out, pushing his red frames up his nose.

Nagisa frowned, looking over at the sedated creature and the swarming doctors tending to it. "Well, at least he'll live right?" He offered, positively.

"…I suppose…" Rei murmured out, never taking his eyes off the dolphin.

Nagisa looked over at him and pouted at the serious face. He tugged at the others arm, forcing him to look at him with a questioning gaze. "You're not doin' anything necessary, just hovering. Let's go get lunch! I need to eat before my next show!"

Rei sighed and nodded after a moment, allowing himself to be led away by the shorter man out of the dolphin area and toward the employee lounge. Still, the dolphin lingered in his mind. He was glad he was going to live, but he didn't agree with interfering in nature so directly…But did that make him callous? He wasn't sure. He decided to forget about it now, and simply enjoy his meal with his overly bubbly coworker.

* * *

Makoto kept to the outer rings of the pod, swimming listlessly along with them. He tried to smile, he really did, but it would never stay. Smiling used to be so easy. He felt guilty about how sad he was, because it made his own family sad to see him this way. It wasn't their fault he was like this, there was nothing they could do.

He felt especially bad for his little brother and sister. He didn't want them to feel any way responsible for what happened to Haruka. He didn't want that guilt to weigh down their hearts. So he tried to be happy, he really did.

But he just couldn't.

Because everything in the whole ocean reminded him of his best friend. From the water that swept across his fins, to the hops into the air of his fellow podmates, to the dark crevices and corners of the sea floor.

He'd never hated the ocean more than now.

And he realized that he couldn't give up on Haruka, he couldn't leave him in the limbo of captivity or death. Even though it was impossible, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try to get him back. Or confirm the worst.

He shook the the last thought away.

And that was how, only a few days back with the pod, he decided to leave it once again. He didn't tell anyone, but he suspected many assumed. He hugged his mother and smiled at her warmly. She didn't seem to want to let go, but she inevitably did. He patted his little brother and sister on the head and grinned at them. He didn't say goodbye.

In the morning he was already gone, slipping away in the darkness of the night and heading back the way he had come and feeling slightly freer with each sweeping motion of his tail.

* * *

"Nagisa shouldn't you be with the killer whales." Rei pointed out, trying to shoo his more senior co-worker away from his area. Nagisa remained stubbornly in place by his side.

"I'm on break! And I worked with dolphins before, longer than you have too!" He snapped back easily, leaning over the solitary tank. The injured dolphin was being kept separate from the rest of the amusement park's collection, for fear they might worsen his condition. "He looks lonely…"

"It can't be helped." Rei sighed, coming down to crouch beside the other.

"…So is that why you haven't been spending time with me on your breaks and lunch, Rei?" Nagisa smiled slyly, "You've been keeping this little guy company haven't you?"

Rei turned his head to the side to hide the red tint on his cheeks, before stuttering out, "It's my job!"

"You're not the only dolphin trainer here." Nagisa continued playfully, grinning at the reaction he was receiving. However, he took mercy on the other and changed the subject after a moment, "At least his fin looks like it'll get better… I mean he is swimming after all."

"Very little though…and slowly." Rei reminded, frowning at the dolphin in the tank.

"Does he have a name yet?"

"Not that I'm aware." The blue haired man answered truthfully with a shrug.

Nagisa hummed, stepping over to where the dolphin was floating sadly and peering at him, "Ne, Flipper, what should we call you?" He asked with a smile, rubbing the dolphins head softly.

The dolphin looked over at the touch and stared at the other. The blond laughed, petting him some more, "Flippers no good right? What about…Leon? No…Kira?* Hmmm." Nagisa continued to list off possible names, none seeming to attract the dolphin's attention.

"How about 'Haru'?" Rei offered, coming over and offering the cetacean a fish for his trouble. The dolphin ignored the blond in favor of the meal, eating it readily.

"Haru? How come?"

"Well, logically speaking, we received him on the spring equinox, the official day of the season. In addition, the kanji can also be seen as mean 'distance' and what with the separation he is currently undergoing for the time being it seems apt. Furthermore-"

"I get it. Haru it is!" Nagisa quickly interrupted, losing interest in the indigo head's actual reasoning. It sounded pretty and that was enough for him. "Oh darn, I gotta go!" He whined, glancing at his watch, "Rei, take your break and come watch the first part of my show!"

"I've seen it already." Rei answered truthfully, only to get attacked by Nagisa's big, wide, teary eyes. He groaned after a moment, mumbling out a, "Alright, fine." And allowed the shorter man to drag him back out of the dolphin area and into the killer whale one next door, giving the injured cetacean one last look.

It had surprised him considerably on his first day of work when he was partnered up with Nagisa in order to learn to be a dolphin trainer. It had surprised him even further that they weren't actually partners, he was just an apprentice under the others wing.

Finally the biggest surprise was the fact Nagisa wasn't even a dolphin trainer anymore, but had volunteered to show him anyhow due to the shortness of staff. Nagisa had already graduated from dolphin training and cleared up the ranks all the way to the top killer whale instructor the park had. It astounded Rei how talented the short, bubbly blond truly was. He would never have guessed.

Rei was a decent swimmer, especially considering how recently he had learned the sport, but he was no match for Nagisa's skill. It was no wonder he was the top trainer of the park, he could handle himself impeccably well in the water. His small stature made the orcas he worked with seem all the more massive and impressive. And his cheery smile won the hearts of everyone in the audience.

Usually he was captivated by his performances, they were of the utmost beauty in his scrutinizing eyes. But today, however, he kept glancing over to the neighboring show tank, where a few of his coworkers were practicing with some dolphins. He looked beyond them, to the barely visible solitary tank of his ward, wondering if 'Haru' was swimming more energetically, or if, maybe, his fin was hurting him too much.

* * *

Makoto had never swum so purposely before in his life. He had never swum in open waters by himself like this. It was simply him, the whole wide ocean and whatever fish dared to cross his path. He didn't really know where he was going, simply swimming on the notion that the boat went in a straight path to its destination. He was compelled forward, and completely focused on the task at hand.

The only moments that made him stop in his mission was when his stomach demanded nourishment and he was forced to hunt around. By himself, he would never be able to catch anything big and filling, so he sustained himself with smaller fish every once in a while.

It wasn't healthy but he didn't care.

It was not until a few weeks of this he realized that this idealistic mission was destined for failure if he didn't change something soon. He wasn't swimming as fast or long as he could, he was hungry all the time, and the lonely journey was starting to crack his usual calm demeanor. If only Haruka were here.

But that was the whole point of the mission anyway.

In addition, he had a sinking feeling he was no longer going the right way anyhow. He'd always simply just followed his pod, trusting the matriarch and her navigational skills. Why hadn't he paid more attention at the beginning of this foolhardy trek? He felt sick, he felt disoriented and he felt so very alone.

He surfaced up for some air and smashed the water's calm surface angrily with his tail in frustration. There was no coast line in sight.

He ducked back down beneath the waves and decided to search out some dinner. His movements were quick and choppy. It was no wonder everything in the ocean seemed to be keeping its distance from him. However, the thought didn't dawn on him and he only grew more irritated.

He tried to take in a calming breath but only felt his stomach growl in response. Still, his behavior was getting him no where. Why did he even go on this journey. It was pointless. He would never find Haruka. How could he? He was gone…Forsaken to the realm of humans never to be seen again. Most likely dead from his wounds. He wanted to scream again and shout and thrash and-

He paused, peering into the distance at a foggy figure swimming a ways away. He swam toward it slowly, trying to keep quiet. Perhaps he could finally eat _something_.

But then he actually saw the creature.

"_YOU!"_

The shark whirled around, revealing its read long hair and confused expression to the orca behind him. It stared at him in shock, trying to understand the sudden shout from the orca now racing toward him. His side stung and his eyes widened in recognition as he watched the powerful black and white tail push through the ocean.

Rin made the split decision of abandoning the school of fish he had been following in favor of high tailing it away from the dangerous killer whale. Which was a bit of a blow to his ego but at the same he had a sister to feed.

Rin was faster than the killer behind him, but the guy just would not quit. He changed strategies, taking a sharp left and ducking into an underwater cave, just squeezing in. Makoto charged right in, only to find his dorsal fin blocking him. He growled in frustration, pulling back and swishing his tail about angrily.

"Get over here right now!" Makoto shouted, reaching an arm into the dark cave desperately. He received a bite for his trouble, but luckily pulled back before any really damage could occur. He glared, cradling the injured appendage, as a trickle of blood slipped down his forearm. "You son of a bitch. It's all your fault!"

"Look," Rin snapped, getting annoyed and a little restless of being trapped in the relatively small hole, "I don't get what your problem is. The dolphin attacked _me_. 'Course i was gonna try to kill it. You're a killer whale don't you know this shit?"

"You were going to kill my little brother and sister!" Makoto hissed back angrily.

Rin grimaced but remained firm, "A shark's gotta eat."

Makoto let out a frustrated noise and darted away from the opening. Rin waited a moment before poking his red head out to check if he was in the clear. He slowly maneuvered his way out and back into the open waters. He let out an angry sigh, the school of fish was definitely gone by now. He couldn't afford to go back with nothing. He gritted his sharp teeth, about to go head out and look some more when two hands grabbed his shoulders firmly and whirled him around, bringing him face to face with the brunet.

"You almost killed my best friend and got him captured! You think I'd just leave!"Makoto growled, glaring down at the shark.

Rin thrashed in the strong grip, not used to being dominated so easily. No one normally messed with sharks, but he had been running into a lot of meddling dolphins these days. "What are you going to do? Kill me? Eat me? Ya think that'll bring your stupid dolphin pal back?"

The brunet glared harder, shoving the other on the cave side. The red head grunted, his eyes squinting shut before opening to stare at the other. "I don't have time for this!" He continued unabated, "You should be blaming the humans not me! Fuckers always meddle with our lives. You think you're the only one who's got a vendetta? Get over yourself."

The orca's angry face flashed with confusion and the shark finally pulled free, swimming backwards to keep his distance. "Now you gonna control yourself?" He called back, watching warily as the other simply floated where they'd parted.

The orca sent him a glare before shooting upwards, much to the shark's surprise. That is, until he realized that the other must have been holding his breath or something. He always forgot dolphin had to do that dumb shit. The whale soon dipped back down and headed back toward him and the shark tensed himself.

However, the orca simply kept swimming past him. The shark rolled his eyes and discretely let out a sigh of relief. And…felt a slight guilt in his stomach at the lonely being. He'd never seen a dolphin on his own like that. Usually he tried to bury down any gushy feelings like that but for some reason…

"Hey, you know…If he were alive they'd probably take him to that park on the coast…" He called, half heartedly. He almost thought the other hadn't heard him he was so far away.

But then he saw the distant figure freeze and whirl around like a hurricane just to shoot right back toward him. The brunet grabbed him suddenly, gripping him tightly and with the most desperate look Rin had ever seen on a mammal hissed, "Show me where!"

* * *

*Actual names of dolphins from one of Japan's parks

* * *

Sorry its a day late but whatever. This chapter is boring and i apologize.

I still hope you enjoyed!

do remember to review if you can my dearies


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Haruka blinked his eyes open, his vision bleary and his entire body feeling weighed down and drowsy. He groaned, shaking his head and rubbing at his tired eyes. With only one arm. He blinked and looked down to find his other arm bandaged up and attached firmly to his side. He furrowed his brow and want to rip the bandages off when everything suddenly came back to him like a blow to the head.

The shark.

"Makoto!" He shouted, suddenly wide eyed as he spun around the water and looked about. "Makoto?" He called out, once more, but quieter and more hollow. He realized something was very wrong. The water around him was still, empty and relatively shallow. He was surrounded by walls.

His heart started to race, and he swam fiercely to one edge of the tank, having difficulty staying balanced without the use of his arm. He hit the wall and let out a gasp. He came up for air, looking around wildly, desperately. He swam around in circles, growing slower every revolution before he finally stopped. His arm throbbed painfully and he floated listlessly, whispering a sad, "Makoto…"

* * *

"I'm not gonna take you that far and that close to humans!" Rin snapped back, shoving the persistent whale away, "Look, I'm fucking hungry and your lumbering ass is scaring away all my meals."

"I'll help you hunt!" Makoto pleaded, following after the shark, desperation shedding off him in waves at even the smallest ray of hope of getting Haruka back.

"Sharks hunt by themselves." Rin growled, speeding up his strokes. Why had he opened his big mouth anyway. It never did him any good. He glanced over his shoulder to see the whale was still following him. He gritted his sharp teeth.

"Well, you'll catch something bigger if I help!" Makoto continued, coming up beside him, "And you can have the whole thing I swear! And if you take me to this park thing I'll help hunt with you the entire way!"

Rin growled, scooching slightly to the side, uncomfortable with how close the orca was to him. Still, a big meal would be very nice at the moment…Gou needed food if she was going to get better. _If she could get better_. He shook the thought away quickly enough and looked over at his stalker, "Ok look. We hunt _this one time_. And I'll think about it. But no fucking promises ok!"

The orca nodded vigorously, giving a hand motion to lead the way. It annoyed the shark, who made an aggravated noise before swimming off in the direction he had been going. The orca silently followed, trying to keep quiet. It was obvious he was having a hard time about it. Especially since he gave up after only a few seconds.

"Um…Mr. Shark….How do uh, sharks hunt?" Makoto spoke up, scratching his cheek awkwardly and feeling every sense the idiot he'd come to realize he was.

Mr. Shark lashed his tail angrily in the water in front of him, "Call me that again and I'll kill you." He snapped, "My name's Rin." He added after a moment, almost hesitantly.

"I'm Makoto." The orca replied easily, speeding up a little so he was beside the fish once more. He didn't care to talk to his tail the entire time. He didn't understand why the other kept moving away when it was clear he would not hurt him. But he allowed him his space. "So how do shark's hunt?"

"Silently." Rin bit out, flicking him a look.

"Orcas are the opposite! We talk a lot, coordinating everything and planning out different strategies as we surround seals or what have you. It's really quite exciting and-"

"What part of silently don't you get!?" Rin barked, snapping at the orca in impatience, "Either keep quiet or leave me alone."

Makoto bit his lip and nodded. He never realized he was so talkative…or rather Haruka never found it annoying. Haruka didn't talk much, not that he needed to. He wondered if Haruka was talking to someone right now…He wondered if he was still injured or in pain.

He blinked the thoughts away and hurried after the shark who had continued on. He fell into step beside him and remained as quiet as he could. The waters were cold, but not too cold. Makoto was slightly annoyed that they were regressing from the direction Haruka was most likely at but did not make any comment. They continued on for a while until the brunet spotted something.

"Rin." He whispered, coming up close to him. The shark sent him an angry questioning look. "There's a seal over there, above water, resting on that ice patch." He continued, motioning slowly with his tail to the distant form. "I'll tip it over, you kill the seal."

"You'll what?" Rin hissed back watching the orca speed away smoothly. The mammal gave him a wave, and no response. Rin growled and hesitated, before following after the whale. He reached the ice patch and allowed Makoto to direct him to the opposite side.

The shark tended to stay clear of killer whales whenever he saw them moving in their groups because he didn't really have a death wish. And as such, he'd never truly seen them hunt before. He hung back and waited as the orca did, surprisingly, exactly as he said.

Makoto surfaced behind the ice block, taking a breath and making the patch rock slightly. He didn't stay out long and after a moment dived right back down only to spring up under the edge of the icy surface, using all his strength to lift the piece off water. Rin watched in awe as the entire back side lifted into the air, and the sleeping seal woke up and scrabbled on the surface, barely clinging to it but remaining steadfast. Makoto ducked back down, looking over at the shark, "Get ready!" He called before surging back forward and actually flipping the ice patch over.

As soon as the seal hit the water Rin dived for it, grabbing it with in clutches and biting deeply into its neck until it felt heavy and limp in his arms. The orca soon swam up to him a broad grin on his face. "Will you help me now?" He asked desperately, trying to ignore how hungry he was in favor of getting on the shark's good side.

Rin also ignored his own hunger, pulling his mouth away from his future meal. "Let's get this back to my sister first." He replied quietly, swimming off. "I need you to watch out for other sharks for me. They'll be attracted to the blood." He ordered, never stopping his swimming.

Makoto blinked before moving after him, "Sister?"

* * *

Haruka ate the offered mackerel, scrutinizing the human above him. He was hungry so he ate it. But he didn't trust the blue haired man. Nor any of the other humans that tried to greet him and rub his head. He swam away to the other side of his tank, staying beneath a surface for as long as he could.

"Still isn't warming up, huh?" Nagisa muttered, coming up behind Rei and kneeling down behind him. He rested a chin on his shoulder to look over him. Rei tried to shrug him off but the blond persisted until he gave up.

"He _was_ traumatized by the attack. A shark _and_ a killer whale. The probabilities of such an encounter are .0009%. It's quite amazing."

"You made those numbers up." Nagisa insisted, raising a brow and looking at his coworker in disbelief. His lips ghosted over the other warm cheek and Rei turned his face away, responding only by flicking his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. The blond decided to drop it and turn his gaze back to the dolphin, "How's his fin doing?"

"Still damaged but he has been using it more. We are hoping to remove the splint in a week or two. Then we'll start trying to train him. Hopefully he'll be more responsive by then."

Nagisa hummed and slipped away from his coworker in favor of sitting cross legged beside him, brushing their knees together. Rei hesitated but allowed the contact, "Nagisa…Shouldn't you be at your post?"

The shorter man waved him off, continuing to watch the dolphin do sad slow circles purposely away from them, "This is more important."

"N-Nagisa you'll get in trouble! I won't have you fired for helping me with my own duty!" Rei shouted in a loud indignant stammer. The blond merely laughed, smiling up at him which confused the blue haired man to no end.

"They can't fire me, Rei! But aww, thank you! I didn't realize you cared so much!" He praised, patting his ex-apprentice's cheek proudly.

Rei flinched, turning a bright tomato red and stammering out, "N-N-Nonsense! As a coworker I-"

Nagisa shushed him and laughed some more, "Now, now. Let's get Haru to warm up alright?"

There was a pause as Rei calmed himself, "Alright."

* * *

"Gou?" Rin called into the cave he'd left his sister in a long while ago. He always felt bad about leaving her alone for long periods of time, but there was nothing he could really do about it. He heard shuffling about, and his sisters red head came into view. She smiled a tired smile up at him, it looked strained. She must be starving.

"Brother," She greeted, "Did you catch anything?"

"I did actually," He answered, giving her a toothy grin. She blinked at the glimmer of the smug brother she once knew shining through once more. That fact was more exciting than the prospect of a meal.

Rin came in fully and dragged the carcass of the seal into the small cave that, fortunately, widened out, "Here you go."

"Oh my God!" The young shark exclaimed, licking her lips at the feast presented to her. "You caught this all by yourself?!"

As if on cue, Makoto slipped into the cave, although his dorsal fin prevented him from coming in entirely. That problem seemed to be coming up a lot in his life, much to his chagrin. He was about to introduce himself when the young shark began to shriek and lunge for him at his appearance.

"No, Gou! He's not gonna kill us!" Rin quickly shouted, restraining his frightened sister. Makoto quickly reeled back, banging his head on the roof of their hide out, and let out a pained groan.

"H-He's not?" She asked, trying to calm down while still staring wildly and distrustfully at the predator at their doorstep.

"I'm Makoto…" The orca introduced, rubbing his head and smiling sheepishly at her, "I helped catch that seal you're eating!" He explained, motioning at the meal with his free hand, hoping that was enough evidence of his lack of ill-intent.

The young girl seemed to relax, shifting out of her brother grip, and laying back down. "Oh…" She vocalized, not really sure how to react to this turn of events. "Thank you…?"

"I know this is weird." Makoto offered, smiling at her.

She nodded slowly, ripping a chunk of the dead beast and eating it self consciously. Rin joined her, and the two starved sharks feasted ravenously and enjoyed their meal.

Makoto watched them with a lot of restraint, his stomach growling painfully and loudly. Apparently loud enough to make the pair before him stop their crunching and chewing.

"You should have some too…" Gou mumbled, motioning with her hand after a moment.

Makoto hesitated, flashing Rin a glance. The shark frowned before finally giving the slightest of nods and that was all Makoto needed to start eating as well. The meal lasted way too little. But for the three starving sea creatures, it was good enough.

"So…Brother…Why did you ask an orca for help…?" Gou finally asked the elephant in the room, before quickly adding, "N-No offense Mr. Or-Makoto."

"I didn't _ask_ for his help. He invited himself." Rin defended with a glower. Not enjoying the way Makoto chuckled lightly at the fact.

"Your brother's right. I need his help to find my best friend. So I offered to aid him in a hunt in exchange for it." The brunet explained, resting his hands on his chin and his upper body along the cave floor. His tail swished about in the open sea behind him.

"You know where his friend is?" Gou asked, still extremely confused about everything happening around her. Rin let out a tired sigh. The meal was not worth all this trouble.

"I _think_ I know where he is. Pretty sure the humans took him to the sea park down by the coast south of here." He answered, flicking a pebble boredly at the wall.

"If he's been taken by humans there's nothing you can do…" Gou spoke out bluntly, looking at the orca in confusion. Was he out of his mind? Perhaps she shouldn't have spoken so casually, the other still could try to kill them. Quite easily in her special case.

"Don't say that!" Makoto shouted, making the two sharks tense up at the sudden angry outburst, "I won't give up hope that easily!" And then quieter, "I'll be right back hold on." The sharks watched, confused at the sudden change in tone as the larger mammal shimmied his way out of the cave and swam up.

"Doesn't he have like…a pod or something? Orcas live in pods right?" Gou whispered, wondering about the mental stability of their guest. Everything just seemed so surreal.

"His friend isn't even another killer whale. It's a damn dolphin." Rin informed with a roll of his eyes, "I can't figure it out either."

Before the young girl could respond, the orca returned, letting out a sigh, "Sorry, I needed to breathe." He informed easily, settling back down to his spot. Rin snorted. _Mammals_.

"Look, Makorca-whatever your name is, I can't escort you all the way to the coast and find that building for you. It's too long of a journey." Rin explained, a serious expression on his face. He was going to put his tail down on the subject. For his sister.

"Why not? I'll protect you in the waters and help hunt and you can leave me the minute we get there!" The killer whale insisted, not even bothering to correct his name. "Please, you don't understand, I _need _to get him ba-"

"No, _you_ don't understand!" Rin growled with impatience, his tail lashing and jaws snapping indignantly.

"I can't swim." Gou explained, butting in with a soft apologetic smile.

"Yes, you can swim! You're just having difficulties right now." Rin corrected, sending her a glare. How dar she say it with such finality. She shook her head sadly, grimly.

"You know I'm not going to heal from this." She sighed with resignation, much to her brother's displeasure. Makoto remained silent, confused, but obeyed when the girl motioned with her hand for him to move back a little. With the added space she ventured further into the light, revealing her wounded dorsal fin.

If wounded was the right word for it…It seemed to have been hacked off. Makoto gasped in shock, staring at the injury with wide green eyes, before letting them rest on her red gaze.

"What happened?" He asked, feeling a bit guilty for cursing the impracticality of his own dorsal fin because, at least, he still _had_ his.

"You're not the only one who's suffered at the hands of dumb humans." Rin snapped, and Gou smiled sadly, nudging her brother a little. Makoto decided to drop it at that and fiddle with his hands. Sudden guilt and shame weighed in his stomach at the fact that, despite this new knowledge, his reckless desire for Haruka to be back at his side had not diminished in the least.

"This…This may seem selfish of me, but I'm desperate. When we travel," he turned to the young girl, "you could hold onto me, grip onto my dorsal fin, as we go. No one would come near us with me there. I promise to keep you safe. And we can have as many stops as you need!" He pleaded, "And again, we'll be hunting together so we'll be more successful with food…Please...I beg of you…"

"It's just a dolphin." Rin breathed out, trying to comprehend the lengths this whale was willing to go for some annoying show off of a species.

"He's not just a dolphin! He's my best friend! My only friend! My…" Makoto faltered, covering his face with his hands in frustration. "He means a lot to me, o-ok?! And I need to do everything I possibly can to get him back….No matter how crazy!"

Rin didn't seem impressed. However, his sister's eyes shined at the exclamation, clasping her hands together, "Such loyalty…Such devotion!" She cooed, making Makoto blink in surprise. "Oh brother, maybe we should help the crazy whale out!" She cried, a sudden wave of sympathy crashing through her small lithe form.

"What?" Rin exclaimed, whirling to look at his younger sibling with his brows furrowed incredulously and full of concern for her mental state.

"He did go through the trouble of catching our first decent meal in months! And he's offering to continue to do so as well as guard us! Sacrificing so much for the slimmest of odds!" She explained, waving her hands about at the grandeur of the escapade. She was quite excited with the narrative she was weaving in her head. She took Makoto's hand in her smaller one, shaking it. "We will escort you to your prince!" She declared firmly.

"Prince…?" Makoto repeated, confused. He dropped in favor of more pressing matters, turning to Rin, "So you'll help me?"

Rin let out a long suffering growl, his tail lashing with annoyance. He felt his sister's piercing stare and looked away. It _was_ nice that she was getting hyped up about. He had not seen his sister so animated in a long time. After a long moment he finally looked back at the orca, giving a curt, "I guess."

Makoto had not smiled so brightly since Haruka left his side.

* * *

And there's chapter four

woooo exciting

college is hard guys im tired

stay tuned for next week and please review because it fuels my ego


	5. Chapter 5

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

"This is so cool!" Gou shouted, clinging tightly to the large dorsal black fin as Makoto rocketed through the ocean. It had been so long since she had felt the ocean waves sweep across her skin, felt her hair billow behind her. How she had missed being able to swim. Rin kept a steady pace slightly behind the jovial pair, watching his sister carefully, fearing she might fall off at any moment.

Makoto smiled up at the laughing girl,"Hold on, going up for air!" He warned and she nodded, and he could feel her grip tighten as he breached the surface for the needed oxygen before dipping back down. The girl giggled louder, clearly enjoying her ride.

"Faster, Makoto!" She ordered, patting his back encouragingly.

"I don't want to loser your brother." Makoto protested honestly to the request. But all Rin heard was a challenge.

"You think you could beat me in a race, Orca Boy?" He snapped, speeding up to reach the mammal's side.

Makoto lifted an eyebrow at the suggestion, "Umm, I don't know?" He answered honestly with a light laugh. He had never been a competitive being. He'd rather just have everyone around him get along.

The easy going answer pissed the shark off and he dashed into the distance with a sudden burst of speed. Makoto blinked, "Wow, he _is_ fast!" He commented, watching the other zoom off. He felt a prod at his lower back and looked over his shoulder at Gou.

"Are you just gonna let 'im say that? Go on! Defend your honor! Race my brother!" She continued, and Makoto gave her a perplexed look before shrugging and complying. After all, going faster did mean reaching the distant coast sooner. And reach the distant coast sooner meant seeing Haruka sooner.

He sped up his movement; however, he was still mindful of the charge on his back. He caught up to Rin slightly, but never was able to overtake him. Rin seemed content with this, grinning his sharp toothy grin. Makoto gave him a pleasant smile back. He didn't really care if he had technically lost, it was all in good fun to him.

It felt nice to be in a pod again, a makeshift, odd unnatural one, but nevertheless! The orca had not realized how lonely he had been for those days wandering alone in the ocean. And who would have thought he would enjoy the company of two sharks?

He felt a soft yet persistent tap on his back and slowed down, looking over at the red headed girl clinging to him. "Hmm, Gou?" He asked, blinking up at her in question.

"Actually, I prefer being called Kou!" She corrected instinctively, "And…I see over there a bunch of caves that I could hide out in while you guys go find some food…" She continued, pointing off a little ways ahead to a collection of rocky fixtures.

Rin nodded, changing course immediately after his sister's words. Makoto held mix feelings, wanting to swim further before pausing, but didn't want to anger the two predators. Their trek had only seemed to just begin, and now they were already pausing. Yet, if Gou needed to rest he would not stop her.

It was going to be a long journey.

* * *

Haruka flexed his arm experimentally, wincing slightly at the dull ache. It still hurt, but it had healed quite well all things considering. A shark had almost ripped it off. He ran it through the clear water, feeling the drag and weight of its form. He pursed his lips in thought. It was still bandaged, but there was no splint keeping it immobile. He debated removing the cloth, but decided against it.

He swam around his tank, relishing the feel of balance he had finally regained. He almost felt normal again. As normal as he could feel with these circumstance. He glanced over at Blue, the name he'd given to what he now came to see as his primary caretaker in this prison. He was smiling at him moving about freely with his arm. It was he who had just removed the splint.

Haruka wondered what the other humans were up to. There were a bunch around, calling to one another and making some sort of fuss around his tank. He did his best to ignore them. He wanted little to do with their makeshift commands and whistles. He blinked when he caught sight of Yellow.

Yellow was a shorter human who always seemed to hover around Blue. Except he gave Haruka more mackerel and therefore deserved more attention. He swam over curiously, wondering if he'd receive some fish for his trouble.

He got a pat on his head and was displeased, ducking back down into the water in silent protest. It was then he realized there was a noticeable change in the still water. The fact that it _wasn't_ still. He blinked, and looked around to see a net being dropped about halfway through his enclosure. He swam to the opposite edge, pressing himself away from the net and finding himself quite confused.

He looked over at Blue and Yellow, their hands were ushering him to keep moving as the net kept quartering him off. He flicked his gaze over to where they were pointing, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Had there always been a gap in the wall there? He was positive he'd circled this pool countless times the past few weeks and yet…he had never seen it.

He swam over to it obediently, swimming through the make shift tunnel and finding himself in a new area. There was shouting and he looked up to see the humans closing off the section, the wall reappearing. He frowned, feeling at the new wall and wondering if he'd be able to break through it in any event or emergency. He was so consumed with these actions he hardly took notice of his new surroundings. That is, until the sound of understandable words, rather than incomprehensible human mutterings, made him freeze and whirl around.

Four other dolphins stared at him curiously. Three of them were female, the runt in the back male. He felt himself tense up at the sight of the small pod. The leader of the group was scrutinizing him. She had been the one speaking before, he was sure of it. She swam closer, circling him and poking about him. Haruka shied away from the touch, confused and feeling awkward. He never liked being near dolphins.

"What's your name?" She asked, but it felt more like a command. Her eyes pierced into his and he quickly looked away to the side. His face remained stoic, but his entire body was tense, agitated.

Haruka didn't want to answer, and so he remained silent and still.

"Did you hear me? I asked your name." She repeated, slowing down her speech assuming the quiet creature was slow or hard of hearing. She was losing her patience.

Haruka didn't even giver her a second look and instead broke the surface of the pool, seeing all the humans watching him and the small pod. He could easily tell that this enclosure was larger and deeper than his previous one. It was still an enclosure and not the sea, however. He found if he craned his neck he could see his previous tank, empty. He felt a rough shove and ducked back down into the water.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" The head dolphin snapped, sending him a viscious glare. The rest of the makeshift pod circled around him as well, but remained silent, watching and waiting. Buying their time.

Haruka had never spent any time with dolphins. In his travels with Makoto they would see the occasional pod of his so called brethren. When he was younger he would curiously follow them for a few moments before returning to the orca's side. He didn't feel comfortable or safe with them. He'd been severed from his own kind, and he didn't mind it one bit. He preferred it this way.

His old tank was small, lonely and boring. But he didn't think he could take the constant presence of four others in a similar pool. He made his decision, pushing past the circle of confused cetaceans roughly and diving as deep down as he could. He steeled himself before bursting upwards, rocketing out of the water and diving back down into his old home.

He couldn't help the tiny smug smile at the gasps of his onlookers as he gracefully slipped back into the still waters he had grown awfully familiar with. There was a cacophony of noise around him and he ignored it expertly, swimming over calmly to Blue and Yellow. They had remained glued to their previous spots and were staring at him in amazement. He tapped at the latter's knee, opening his mouth and trying to inform the dumb human that he was hungry and he wanted to eat.

Nagisa and Rei looked at each other, still in shock at the sudden turn of events. It was a feeling mirrored by the rest of the staff. When introducing dolphins to one another skirmishes were normal and expected, but such a calculated and graceful escape? Especially from an injured one...

The blond, the most senior trainer present, decided to make an executive decision and fed the dolphin a couple fish before standing up, "If he wants to stay alone let him be. That jump is going to make the show, as soon as his swimming gets sturdier start the training sessions. We'll have him come in the show by himself as a grand finale." He informed, glancing around at his coworkers before resting his eyes on the dolphin now swimming lazy circles. "I knew you'd be interesting, Haru…" He added, mostly to himself, a broad smile forming on his face, "I can't wait to see what other surprises you hold!"

Rei could never get used to when Nagisa threw off his playful childish side and gave orders. He stumbled up onto his two feet to follow after the shorter one, wanting to know his reasoning. "Wait up, Nagisa!"

Haruka watched them go, swimming his usual circles and wondering if Makoto and his family were doing well. But he didn't like thinking about that. It made him sad, and made him want to stop swimming. It made him want to sink to the very bottom of his tank and never rise again.

But he always did come up for air because, he reasoned, if there was even the slightest possibility of getting himself back in the ocean and to Makoto, he would do his best to attain it. Even if it meant swimming boring circles for weeks on end to stay alive.

* * *

They had been traveling many days now, Rin had lost count exactly how many days. Well, he had never started keeping count but still, the fact remained. And yet, the orca he was escorting remained an enigma to him that he couldn't quite figure out. It pissed the shit out of him.

The orca was content in being bossed around by both him and his sister. Was perfectly happy letting her ride on his back for as long as she wanted. Never protested when they stopped and searched for caves. Never minded when they were too small for him go in. Never argued when he was forced to float about outside it, always claiming, "It's easier this way for me to breathe, anyway!"

And yet, the killer whale could turn serious, and Rin found it was mostly during hunts. He grew calculated, and strategic. His features more stoic as they stalked unsuspecting fish or the occasional mammal. It was as if he was a different cetacean all together. That is, until they killed their meal and the happy smile returned to the brunet's face.

_That smile_. Rin repeated in his head, _That smile is what pisses me off the most._

It was soft, full of warmth and ever present. It fit so perfectly on the brunet's features, with his droopy green eyes and fluffy brown hair. And yet, there was something amiss with it. It felt too perfect. Almost fake. Almost forced. Not blatantly so, but enough to arise suspicions.

And, Rin knew for a fact it was fake. Or at least partly so. He could see the proof of his conjecture whenever the orca thought he was alone or unwatched. He saw it slip from his features and his green eyes seemed to cloud with worry. And it left a bitter taste in the sharks mouth _knowing_ a stupid dolphin had this sort of effect on the apex predator.

It was one such moment, with the killer whale floating about outside the cave with said expression and Rin checking up on his sister. She looked tired, and he nudged her deeper into the cave, further out of sight. She smiled lazily up at him and he rolled his eyes, but gave her long hair a comforting stroke. "I'll be back." He promised quietly, as she seemed to nod off.

Makoto swam lazy circles around the small entrance, consumed in thought. It was times like these, when alone, that his worries seemed to take control of him. If his family was doing well, if the twins were joining the hunts yet, if they were eating well. If Haruka was ok, if Haruka was safe, if Haruka remembered him…If Haruka missed him.

He grunted from a sharp slap on his shoulder, turning around to see Rin giving him a look. He raised an eyebrow at him, offering a smile, "Oh, I thought you were gonna stay with Kou?"

"Come with me." Rin muttered, swimming a ways away, into the dark depths of the ocean where they wouldn't be bothered. Makoto followed hesitantly, not entirely comfortable with the dark. Especially without Haruka guiding him and holding his hand. He bit his lip. At least he could still see somewhat. _He was a killer whale, he could handle this_, he thought to himself. Rin finally stopped, and turned around to face the mammal.

"You gonna tell me what the big deal is with this dumb dolphin of yours?" He finally asked, watching closely to see any clues in the other's reaction and expression. Anything at all that could give him some peace of mind.

"Haruka?" Makoto blinked, confused at the sudden interrogation, "He was taken and I want to get him back." He answered honestly, simply.

"But he's not even an orca!" Rin reasoned, throwing his hands out in exasperation.

"He's still a part of my family!" Makoto defended, crossing his arms, "We took him in after a couple of, err, sharks, killed his parents." He explained giving a silent 'no offense' with a flash of his green eyes, "I've been with him my entire life."

Rin took in the information, mulling it about, "You know the chances of finding him are slim to nothing."

Makoto forced on a smile, his eyes closing, "I'm still going to try."

"There! Right there! That damn smile. You're obviously sad and angry so why the hell force on that stupid smile?" Rin growled, coming closer, practically shoving his pointed index figure in the mammal's face.

"I smile for you." The whale replied instantaneously, blinking his eyes back open before and leveling the shark a look and ignoring the accusatory hand, "And Kou, I suppose…But she smiles a lot for herself so she doesn't really need it." Makoto chuckled warmly. "Plus what's the use in frowning? Things have been getting better. When I was depressed all the time, swimming by myself on this crazy mission…nothing went right. So, I guess, I'm just trying to stay positive."

Rin didn't know what to make of the long convoluted answer. Especially as he only half listened to any of the words that spilled out of the orca's mouth after his first sentence.

"Oh, uh, excuse me a minute." Makoto continued, looking slightly flustered before surging up toward the surface. Rin rolled his eyes. It seemed so annoying to have to constantly go up for air. He was thankful he was a fish. Still, he followed after the other, poking his head out beside him.

Makoto smiled at him and Rin reddened slightly, remembering his words. Luckily, it was dark out and the other remained oblivious to the change in expression. The silence reigned as the orca looked into the distance pensively.

"Rin." The brunet called, breaking the veil of peace, "Do sharks do flips?"

The red head raised and eyebrow, "Do we do _flips_?" He repeated in indignation. "Of course we don't do flips. We're not some circus animal show offs."

Makoto laughed at his words, "That's too bad." He sighed out, "I can't do flips either. I'm too big. I can jump pretty high though." He informed, a hint of pride in his words as he swished his tail and looked up at the moon in thought. "Haruka can jump even higher though…" He continued, his voice growing softer, his eyes seemed distant as it gazed at the stars, as if transfixed on a distant memory. "And he can do back flips and front flips and triple flips. It's an amazing sight to see."

Rin growled, splashing the other with his arm, making the orca sputter and look over, "Ya want some damn flips I'll give you a damn flip." He snapped, dipping down into the water. Makoto made a confused and shocked noise at the statement, before gasping as Rin sprung back up into the air.

He didn't do a flip, but flopped back into the water quite ungracefully. The orca burst out in genuine laughter as Rin let out an angry embarrassed curse, slapping at the ocean surface. "Shut up!" He growled, barring his teeth as his face turned a bright red.

Makoto quieted his laughter, leaving behind only his smile, "Don't be mad." He murmured, "I'm no better at flips." He added, ducking beneath the water and surging out in a graceful arc, right over the shark. For the first time in their journey, Rin marveled at just how _big_ his companion was, as he watched the giant body somehow contort so easily in the air and slip into the water behind him.

"That's all I can do." Makoto informed sheepishly, resurfacing beside him, "Actually I've been practicing doing it backwards! Or I mean…I haven't practiced in a while and I always end up just crashing down…" He prattled on, "And just cause you kinda…flopped, don't feel bad! It's expected. That was the first time you've ever tried right? Your height was pretty impressive-"

Rin splashed him again, "You talk too much, you know that?" He sighed, giving a good eye roll as the brunet only smiled up at him. It aggravated him more.

"Yeah, i know." Makoto replied timidly, scratching his cheek self consciously. He ducked back down, trying out another jump, less impressive than the last. Rin, not one to be outdone, decided to partake in the game. The pair began a back and forth into the night, under the pale light of the stars.

"You're getting better!" Makoto called, splashing about quite happily as the shark entered into the water more smoothly. Rin grinned up at him, and Makoto returned it. "And you're loosening up!"

The redhead rolled his eyes at the comment, but the grin remained on his face nevertheless, "I think that's enough jumping for a while." He commented, ducking back down into the ocean. Makoto followed him, a spring in his step as he spun and swam happily beside him, occasionally brushing up against the shark. "What's with you?" Rin commented, for once not minding their relative proximity.

"Thank you for doing that with me." Makoto responded, flashing a genuine smile that made Rin flush slightly, if Makoto saw it in the dark waters he made no comment, only continuing, "It reminded me of home."

* * *

and here we are at chapter 5

hope you guys enjoy

please read and review yo

thank you


	6. Chapter 6

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

"Rei. Are you even listening! Hey Rei! Reiiiiiiiiiii!"

Rei lifted his head up, blinking his eyes and looking over at his coworker. "Hmm?"

Nagisa let out a long suffering sigh, slouching in his chair, and eating another fry. They were sitting in the corner of the employee lounge, eating their lunch together during the break, as they usually do, "I've been _talking_ to you." He glowered at the blue haired man, chewing purposefully.

"Sorry." Rei offered half heartedly, taking a sip of his water idly, "I give you my full attention." He declared, straightening himself up and staring at him.

Nagisa seemed content with that, sitting up properly in his chair. They were seated in high chairs at the small personal round table and neither of their feet touched the ground. However, unlike his calmer companion who kept his feet tucked in the legs of the chair, he swung his own freely in the air. "I think you should take over Haru's training." He continued, "I know you're still shaky in shows and the finale is the most important part and it'd be really embarrassing if you messed up, like you'd be shamed and boo'd and-"

"_Nagisa."_

The blond chuckled, waving an apologetic hand, "I still think you can handle it now! And Haru just wont respond to any of the other trainers."

"He responds to _you_ the most." Rei reminded with what seemed to be the slightest tinge of jealousy, twirling his straw and giving his lunch date a look.

Nagisa puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, drawing his eyebrows together, "But _you _are the dolphin trainer." He retorted, leaning over the table and up at the glasses wearing man. "Plus he just likes me cause I treat him extra mackerel. He loves the stuff!" He winked and Rei rolled his eyes, "Now, you'll take over Haru's regimen and make him a star, won't you?"

Rei pursed his lips and look to the side, only to have the blond lean even closer to him. He flushed slightly, "Nagisa! I can't just take someone else's job! I don't have that kind of power!" He insisted, pulling his face away to give them some distance apart.

"But I do!" Nagisa responded slyly, a manipulative smirk flashing across his face that made Rei's skin absolutely crawl.

"Nagisa!"

"Don't worry about it!"

"I will!"

"Will you two lovebirds quiet down?!" One of the other trainers shouted from the other side of the lounge in frustration. Rei's face bloomed a bright red as he turned away to fix his glasses. Nagisa only laughed at the comment, grinning broadly before leaning back into his chair and giving his company a thorough look.

Just as the blue haired man had calmed his nerves, the blond thought aloud, "We'd be a terrible couple."

"Eh? Why would you say that?" Rei asked, feeling a bit offended at the comment. Not that he wanted to date him or anything. Of course not. Their relationship was strictly professional.

"You're too naggy, and you think too much!" Nagisa responded easily, getting ready to count on his fingers all of his coworkers faults, "And you won't train Haru-"

"I'll train Haru! Ok, happy?" Rei interrupted, slamming a fist down on the table, making their cups hop in the air slightly. Nagisa smiled further, taking the hand in both of his own, much to the glasses wearing man's confusion.

"And I'm sure you'll do it beautifully!" The shorter man encouraged, tilting his head to the side. Rei grumbled something, flaming up and pulled his hand back. He muttered about getting back to work and took his tray with him out. Nagisa watched him go, slurping his soda loudly and kicking his feet in the air.

He thought of the teasing comment as he watched the other's nice tight ass in his black and blue jammers. He pursed his lips around the straw, thinking pensively.

"He _is_ hot." He finally muttered to himself, giggling into his hand before grabbing his trash and heading out for his own post.

* * *

"The water's getting warmer!" Makoto realized, a smile growing on his face at the small realization. "That means we must be getting close, right?" He asked, turning towards his carnivorous escort.

"Closer, but I wouldn't say close." Rin responded realistically, trying to figure out where exactly they were. They still had quite a ways, especially with his sister with them. But it was true that they were nearing the end of their journery.

"Still, it is something to be excited about!" Gou insisted, sliding up slightly to hug her ride. "Soon you'll reach the coast and be tantalizingly close to your beloved! Oh, I'm so happy for you!" She cooed, nuzzling his back.

Makoto laughed at the reaction, craning his neck back to look over at the girl. He'd long since stopped bothering to correct her word choices in her fantasizing over the grandeur of this relatively simple quest. It didn't really matter to him anyway. The fact that she seemed so happy over it was enough for him to let her be.

Rin, however, didn't care for the exaggerations and let out an indignant huff, "It's just his little dolphin friend. Not some long lost orca lover of his." He reminded his sister with a little grimace, though he didn't look over to show it to his companions.

She waved him off with her hand, "But brother! The desperation of his quest, the slim chances of success, his persistence for his one true soul mate! The fact its not an orca just makes it juicier, a forbidden love!" She swooned drammatically. "Makoto, what does Haruka look like? Is he as handsome as you? As muscular?" She probed, sliding up to hook her arms around his neck to get closer to him.

Makoto chuckled, ignoring the weird description of his friendship, "Haruka? I guess he's handsome. I never really thought about it… He's slim and smaller than me but he does have muscles! Less than me I think, definitely less than Rin." The young lady shark nodded, greedily taking in the information and waited for the other to continue, "Um, he has dark black hair and really blue eyes. He's paler than me and can swim faster and more gracefully. His hand…is soft and smaller than my own…but it's good that way…"

"Hmm?" Gou hummed, peering over his neck to see the orca gazing at his own hand in thought. "How's that?"

"It fits perfectly in my own…" He mumbled, lost in memory. It had been so long since he had felt the dolphin's hand in his own. The thought made him impossibly sad.

Rin gritted his teeth and Gou positively squeeled at the thought. "Makoto you're killing me!" She cried, burying her face into his back.

Makoto blinked, brought back to reality by the loud cry, "Eh? Do you need me to slow down? Want to take a break?" He asked, pausing in his swimming.

Gou couldn't help but laugh warmly at that, "Makoto you're so sweet. Haruka's a lucky guy!" She patted his shoulder, leaving him even more confused. Rin held a growl under his breath as his tail lashed at the water behind him.

"Let's keep moving you two." He snapped, pulling ahead and not looking back. Gou and Makoto exchanged a look before shrugging their shoulders and following after the shark, dropping the conversation easily enough. As they caught up to Rin's side Makoto nudged him lightly with a soft smile and Gou ran a comforting hand along his back. The shark rolled his eyes, but his expression seemed to soften ever so slightly at their attempts.

Makoto hummed, swaying in his swimming slightly, yet still mindful of Gou's grip on him. All previous tensions on sad memories of the past gone, as he decided to focus on his present.

"What are you so happy about _now_?" Rin sighed, sending him a sidelong glance.

Makoto smiled wider, "I was just thinking…We make a good pod." He laughed as he said it. It seemed so absurd. A pod of three. A pod of two sharks, one injured, and an orca. And yet, it did feel like a pod to him, and he was thankful for the feeling. An orca was nothing without his family.

The sharks blinked at the comment, exchanging a glance and shrugging. Makoto knew they would never truly understand the sense of belonging hardwired in his being that drove him to make and form attachments like this…but it didn't matter in the end if they couldn't. It didn't change the fact that Makoto held them in such high esteem and clung to the familiar bond growing between them.

* * *

Haruka slapped the water with his tail behind him, spraying Blue and soaking him further. The human wiped at his face and sighed in exasperation. Haruka could care less, ducking back down under the water and swimming away into the other corner of the tank.

Blue had beckoned him over, and Haruka had obliged him, assuming he was being fed. However, to his displeasure, the human had pulled out a whistle from underneath his shirt. The dark haired teen was now quite familiar with that whistle. The sound screeched in his ears, and was some sort of signal for him to do a flip.

No one would tell him to do a flip if he didn't want to do a flip.

He swam freely. And that was that.

He glanced over at his neighboring tank where he could see the other pod of dolphins listening to the humans and complying…and getting fish. He huffed.

A few days ago there had been many humans trying to coerce him into obeying their weird hand signals. And now they had all left. He didn't care though. He was content swimming his laps by himself. The only one who persisted in his efforts was Blue.

From the corner of his eyes he saw said human pull out a mackerel from the bucket beside him. He zoomed over to him, popping up in front of him. He supposed Blue hadn't expected such a quick reaction, as he seemed to jump back in surprise.

Haruka waited and Blue seemed to sigh, before handing over the fish, which the dolphin ate contently. While he fed, the human rubbed his head pleasantly and he allowed it.

"What am going to do with you, Haru…" Rei sighed out, still dripping wet. He looked over at the other side, at all the successes his coworkers were having. Still, he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially one assigned to him by his prior mentor. "You can jump twice as high as them," He continued aloud, "You're a beautiful sight. Don't you want to show off?" He insisted.

Haruka realized he wasn't getting another fish and decided to sink back into the water and dive away, doing his circles.

"You just want to swim…" Rei answered his own question, smiling softly at the cetacean. He rested a hand on his face, leaning it against his drawn up knees as he watched the other simply move about gracefully through the water. It was a soothing site to behold and made him wish he was a better swimmer.

Muffled music brought him out of his reverie and he glanced up to see the killer whale show starting next door. He stood up, glancing past the tall wall separating the two exhibits. He strained to see Nagisa on the stage and finally just gave up. He'd seen the show countless times before anyhow. He didn't know why he was being so curious about it. Nor why he was drawn to find his friend when he had only just seen him.

Haruka tilted his head at Blue, who seemed to be searching for something over the wall. Haruka had never really paid the structure any attention but a sudden curiosity overwhelmed him. He was so bored. He swam deep down into his tank before shooting upwards in a simple jump, glancing over the wall easily.

His blue eyes widened at the sight of three orcas swimming around the large show tank and splashing the crowd. Orcas. Other orcas. He felt his heart clench as he instinctively looked for Makoto. He didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved when he confirmed he was not enclosed in there.

He dived back down into the water and swam around agitatedly. The site of killer whales, after so long in isolation, brought a sudden onslaught of intense regret, fear, depression and utter loneliness. So consumed in his thoughts, it took him a moment to notice that Rei was offering him a mackerel for his jump. He took it, nibbling at the morsel as his heart raced.

He felt so terribly alone.

He was even missing the stupid pod now.

He jumped back into the air to look over the fence, judging the distance to the tank. There was flat ground on both sides of the wall that separated his tank from that of the orcas. Even with a powerful spring it was too risky a jump to attempt. And what would it accomplish? He wasn't a killer whale, and most pods weren't as welcoming to dolphins than Makoto's family. They would probably attack and eat him

It scared him that that fact only encouraged him to try. He buried the thought away.

He splashed back into his tank and took the proffered fish again. Thinking deeply over his circumstances that he'd been ignoring in an effort of denial. He wanted to go home, he wanted to swim in the ocean beside Makoto again. But it wasn't going to happen.

As such, swimming in mindless circles for the rest of his life did not seem appealing. He glanced over at Blue, who made an upward hand motion. Maybe…Maybe he would play along. He jumped up, receiving a smile and a fish for his trouble.

If anything it would be a welcomed distraction.

* * *

"R-Rin, can't we go another way!" Makoto hissed, curling back and away from the dark crevice.

Rin gave him a look, "The fish went this way, so we're going this way." He answered with an exasperated tone, about to swim down into the blackness. He was held back though, as a strong arm grabbed at his shoulder and kept him still. Rin furrowed his brow at how hard it seemed to tremble.

"Le-Let's look for some other prey, please!" Makoto insisted, pulling at the other to come back. Rin shoved the hand off and turned around to look at his companion.

"What the hell is your problem?" He asked, scrutinizing the other's pale face. The orca looked away feeling embarrassed and began fidgeting with his hands.

It took a moment but he finally sighed, his shoulders drooping down in defeat, "I'm…afraid." He mumbled, crossing his arms defensively.

"You're a killer whale what do you have to be afraid of-"

"_I_ _know what I am, that makes no difference!" _Makoto growled out in such focused anger that Rin moved back slightly in surprise. And yet, there was something in the tone that made the shark smirk inside. That pure fury sent a tingle down his spine. The orca seemed embarrassed of the outburst and muttered out an apology, trying to calm himself. "I'm…afraid of the darkness, of the unknown." He continued after a moment.

The shark recovered himself from the weird sensation, never letting the orca see the brief change in his attitude. "How the hell did you last this long then? The ocean's pretty fucking dark." Rin spat out, unimpressed.

"I had Haru." Was the sincere, honest, instantaneous response.

Rin felt his stomach drop and his face flash with anger.

"Well, you have me now!" He retorted, grabbing the other's wrist roughly and pulling him into the darkness. Makoto flinched as he was dragged down, and before he could resist he was plunged into the pitch black sea. He whimpered and clung on to the shark, squeezing his eyes tightly.

"R-Rin please go back, please go back." He begged as a mantra as he felt them go deeper into his own personal hell. The shark felt himself growing angrier and angrier at the other's fear and pleading. His tail lashed about, driving him further into the darkness until he finally just couldn't take it and stopped.

Makoto thought they were turning back. He was wrong.

"Why am I not good enough!" Rin shouted, whirling around to face the orca. He could barely make out the outline of his terrified face in the darkness. Still, he could tell the others eyes were shut firmly. Despite being turned around Makoto still clung to him however he could, desperately.

"W-What are you talking about?!" The orca replied, starting to become hysterical. His whole form was shaking. His grip tightened, and he started to hyperventilate in fear of not only the ocean, but the shark keeping him hostage.

"Why are you still scared with me here, huh?! A shark is better protection than a fucking dolphin!"

"You're not Haru!"

Rin grabbed at the orcas arms and tore them off the grip they had on his body, "Get the fuck away from me!" He screeched, swimming back and distancing himself from the mammal.

Makoto let out a shriek when he lost the other's touch, opening his eyes to search him out. Although, it didn't help much in the black waters. His arms stretched out but the shark made sure he was just out of reach. "Rin, p-please!"

"What's so great about this stupid dolphin! He sounds like a puny, selfish shit who only cares about swimming in the ocean!" Rin continued, icily, sneering at the pathetic outstretched hand and expertly keeping away from it.

"Stop!" Makoto cried back, his movements becoming more frustrated and choppier.

"He just wanted you and your family for protection!"

"That's not true!"

"How the hell do you know that!"

"R-Rin, I'm scared please!" Makoto begged, feeling disoriented and lost and terrified and more alone than he had ever felt in a long time. "R-Rin, I-I, Rin I need to breathe!" He gasped out, as animal instinct consumed him and he suddenly starting to swim in what he hopped was upwards.

The shark seemed to snap out of his anger at the desperate wheeze, swimming back over to the orca who latched onto him immediately. The redhead dragged him up as fast as he could take him, breaking the surface to hear the desperate gasp for air from the other.

He continued to hold on closely to the other as Makoto took in several ragged breaths. He watched his muscled chest heave and the droplets slip down from his hair onto his face, down his nose to his parted lips. The shark swallowed, shifting the mammal slightly in his arms.

"Got your breath?" He asked quietly, not meeting the other's shadowed gaze.

Makoto nodded weakly, about to answer verbally when he was blocked, by the others harsh lips as he kissed him roughly.

* * *

hope you enjoy that ending LOL

wow six chapters and we're still on schedule

amazing

please read and review cause i love you

see y'all sunday


	7. Chapter 7

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Makoto's eyes shot open, his entire body tensing as the shark invaded his mouth with a lustful hunger.

_Rin was kissing him._

Rin's hands clung to the orcas upper arms, fingernails digging tightly into the tanned skin. The killer whale's heart beat erratically in his chest and he only panicked more when the shark tried to make the kiss deeper, tilting his head and pressing even closer in an almost desperate flurry of motion.

Makoto shoved Rin off of him, using all of his strength do so and easily succeeding in driving the surprised shark back. He covered his mouth in shock, staring at the other with wide, terrified green eyes. He was stock still.

Rin seemed to look just as terrified for his part, staring right back at the other with a sense of growing horror in his red tinted eyes.

The dark ocean rocked around them, and the space between them seemed miles apart.

Makoto finally found the courage to speak, "R-Rin…Rin, I'm sorry!" And Rin expected Makoto to say a lot of things, to yell and curse him out mostly. But he had not expected an apology. And it infuriated him. He whirled away without a word and dove back down into the ocean, his mind only urging him to run the fuck away from the situation.

The orca hesitated, his mind and heart still racing. He didn't know what he had done wrong to elicit a kiss from the other. He…He didn't like Rin that way. That he was sure of. But that didn't mean he didn't care about him, and was immune to his feelings at the moment. So with that thought he followed after his friend, watching as he agitatedly raced back into the cave they had found for Gou.

He supposed there wasn't going to be any food tonight.

He watched the shark slip inside and tried to follow suit, only to be reminded he didn't quite fit. He sighed and floated at the entrance, debating whether to talk to him. He didn't want to awaken Gou though, nor talk to her brother like this in front of her. So he stayed quiet, hovering silently and thinking.

He debated going out and hunting something for them but decided against it. They had been eating well enough, and he didn't want to get separated on accident. A part of him worried that Rin would cut their journey short and refuse to aid him further because of his actions. He prayed it wasn't so.

* * *

Haruka jumped high into the air, head bumping the little ball above the tank before arcing down and slipping back into the clear still water. He heard the annoying whistle and rolled his eyes before swimming over to Blue and getting his deserved fish.

Blue gave him a smile and a head rub that Haruka could care less about, eyeing the bucket of fish beside him. It took a moment but he finally got the reward he actually wanted and ate it. He looked back over at his human for what to do next.

Not that he was complying and being obedient or anything. He was just bored out of his mind and this gave him at least some sort of stimulation and kept him from thinking of Makoto and the wide open ocean. Blue raised his hand again and the dolphin dove down to jump up high once more.

Rei blew the whistle, notifying that the correct move was given and waited for the dolphin to dive back down. He kneeled down as the animal swam in front of him expectingly, rubbing his head and praising him quietly. He cried out when a force barreled into him, almost knocking him into the pool. Two arms wrapped around his mid-section and a blond little head placed itself on his shoulder.

"Rei! You're doing it!"

"Nagisa, get off me!" Rei pushed back, annoyed, only to have the other tighten his grip with a laugh. He shot the other a glare, turning his head only to find Nagisa doing the same. Their noses touched, they were that close. Rei felt his features heating up while the blond only seemed to be smiling brighter-

A splash of water hit them both out of their moment and back to the reality of a hungry dolphin. Haruka glared at them, raising his tail to splash them again in his impatience. Blue seemed to get the message, scrabbling to give the other a fish. Satisfied, Haruka let them be and swam a bit away.

"How'd you finally get him to listen?" The blond asked, shaking the water from his hair before deciding to sit beside his coworker. He crossed his legs, his knee pressing against the other's thigh. Rei hesitated but decided not to shift away. The blond would only follow him anyway. He pulled his glasses off and wiped the water droplets away with the corner of his shirt before pushing them back up the bridge of his nose.

"I wish I knew." He answered honestly, "It makes no logical sense. He suddenly jumped on his own and started listening to me." The blue haired trainer recounted, looking over at the dolphin who had finished his snack and was back to swimming lazy circles.

"I think he's grown attached to you." Nagisa grinned, nibbling at his bottom lip idly as he decided to continue, "I think he fell for your weird hair color and patience and love for beautiful things like himself!"

Rei gave him a look, raising an eyebrow, "I think he just wanted the mackerel." He deadpanned.

Nagisa's smile softened, standing up and stretching, "Who says I was talking about the dolphin!" He sighed out, skipping off and out of the area. Rei furrowed his brows at the comment, whirling back to watch the shorter man disappear.

Even though he was too late he still stuttered out, "N-Nagisa! What's that suppose to mean?" He didn't receive an answer, of course, and was left to mull the words over in his mind. His face was beginning to heat up at all the implications when he felt a nudge on his leg. He looked down to find the dolphin nosing his knee and looking up at him.

He pet his head, and sighed out, "Haru, you have it so easy…You get to just swim around and play. Don't have to think about weird relationships..."

* * *

Gou knew there was something wrong. She could feel it in the water, a thick miasma of tension between her brother and the orca. Something she knew had never been there before, but appeared so suddenly and volatile-y that it could not be shrugged off.

She wondered if something had happened last night. It was evident they hadn't caught anything, perhaps they miscalculated and got into a little spat? But Gou couldn't imagine Makoto causing or keeping an argument going for this long. Furthermore, the poor whale kept glancing at the shark with worried looks. He was only ever ignored.

Gou frowned at it all, but kept silent for now, and held on to the brunet as they swam closer and closer to their destination. It was awkward and boring and she did not like it one bit. Her brother held a face of concentration but his gritted teeth and locked jaw showed how angry he truly was. She worried about her brother…did Makoto do something mean to him? She couldn't imagine it…but…what if…

She couldn't take it anymore. She tapped at Makoto's shoulder, "What's wrong with you two?" She asked bluntly, frowning at the brunet as she demanded an answer. Makoto hesitated, glancing desperately toward the male shark for some sort of help. Rin stopped his swimming.

"Nothing's wrong." He snapped, "Everything's just fine and dandy, right Makoto?" He made eye contact with the orca for the first time in hours. The brunet stared at him in utter incomprehension at the statement. Everything was most certainly _not_ fine and dandy.

"Rin…I-I'm so-" Makoto tried again, quietly in some semblance of a murmur, only to have the shark lash out in a sudden movement. Makoto visibly flinched, fearing the worse, when instead it was only a desperate grab at his hand. The grip on it was firm and unrelenting, and soon the shark was dragging him onward.

"I said everything was fine." Rin repeated, squeezing the hand roughly and turning to face forward. The conversation ended and Makoto let himself be dragged through the sea, his mind stumbling around in confusion at how to approach the situation he had ended up in. Gou remained as confused as ever but let it go for now. It was clear Rin would tell her nothing in front of the mammal. She would definitely interrogate her brother at their next stop, alone.

Rin kept a strong grip on the orca's hand partly because he was angry but mostly because he was afraid he would swim away. He knew he had messed up. Fucked up really. And he was terrified the whale would leave him and his sister after the awful stunt he pulled. He tightened his grip when he realized that the only reason the whale probably did stick around was again, as always, for that stupid dolphin.

He didn't know when or how or why this happened. All he knew was at some point during this journey his heart started to hurt. The killer whale was too damn nice, too damn sweet, too damn handsome, too damn _perfect._ And it pissed him off to no end. Especially because he would never be able to partake in that niceness and sweetness because he was a shark and the killer whale was after a dolphin.

The trio continued on like this for some time, until hunger soon overcame them and they began searching out a place to hide their charge. They finally found a suitable den and Rin helped his sister in and got her comfortable while Makoto went up for some air.

The shark was about to leave and go find his hunting partner when he was held back by the soft yet firm grip of his sister. He turned to her with a questioning look, "I don't know what happened, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She began, shooting him a glare when he went to interrupt her, silencing him preemptively, "But Makoto has only ever been nice to us, so will you two make up?"

"It's not that simple, Gou." Rin barked, crossing his arms defensively and sending a glance at the cave opening. Good, the mammal wasn't back yet. The girl sighed at her brother's behavior, resting her arms against the rocky floor.

"It is though. Because that orca will forgive anyone in a heartbeat and you know it. He's forgiven you before for worst things." She added, giving him a look, "And he's been patient with my situation all this time."

"If he wasn't I'd kill him." Rin spat out immediately at the thought/

Gou seemed to smile sadly at that, drawing idle patterns on the surface beneath her. The statement reminded her of all the doubt she had been toying with and trying to deny to no avail, "…Rin…if…" She paused, looking down and away from her elder brother, "If…there's ever any real danger or emergency. Don't hesitate to leave me behind ok."

Rin stared at her in disbelief, "Are you crazy? I would never do-"

"I'm not starting an argument about this. I just wanted to make sure you knew…I wouldn't be angry." She continued more firmly, although her gaze remained firmly on the cave floor.

"Gou, stop talking like this." Rin growled, giving her a stern look, "I'll be back with food soon, you stay here and don't do anything stupid!"

She laughed lightly, "I wouldn't." Rin didn't feel assured but slipped away anyway. He was too agitated to deal with his sister's feelings of lack of value at the moment. They were absurd. He sighed tiredly, feeling all the more miserable over his circumstances. He paused when he realized the stupid orca wasn't even waiting out here.

A moment of panic coursed through him at the thought of the other leaving entirely, abandoning them for good. That is, until he decided to look up. Much to his relief the mammal was there, head out of water, most likely breathing…and taking his sweet time. Rin swam up without another thought, breaking the surface beside him.

Makoto didn't look at him but heard his splash, "I can _see_ it." He whispered in awe. His green eyes stared off into the distance, where a seemingly insignificant speck of land dotted the horizon. Rin followed his gaze, seeing it for himself and frowned slightly. Their trek was almost over. The sight filled the orca with hope; it filled the shark with only bitter disappointment.

"We'll reach it tomorrow. Let's go find food." Rin spoke out. He didn't want to look at the end of their travels any longer. Also, he was quite hungry, and in light of his recent conversation with his little sister, did not want to stay out too long. He was ready to dive back in when an arm stopped him. _Why did everyone keep trying to stop him today_. He glared at the whale to find him smiling his usual smile at him.

"Rin, I just wanted to tell you…Thank you so much for doing all this for me." Makoto murmured honestly, bringing the shark into a hug that made the predator tense up uncomfortably. "And I'm still sorry…that…i don't feel that way…" The mammal continued a bit lamely, pulling back. His smile looked more nervous, his eyebrows quirked up, and he searched the others face for forgiveness.

Rin felt embarrassed and red-faced and all around pretty shitty. "You're shitty at rejecting someone." He informed bluntly, peeling the hands that were on his shoulders away with a shrug.

"I'm sorry." Makoto repeated, his arms drooping at his sides in defeat.

"Stop apologizing!" Rin snapped, and watched as the other went to apologize and then decided against it. Instead, he gave a sheepish apologetic smile instead. Which was just as bad. Rin rolled his eyes, "Just drop the whole thing ok? We'll get your damn dolphin boy back. But first I seriously need to eat and so does Gou."

Makoto gave a nod of agreement and followed the other down into the ocean waves, the tension seeming to dissipate as plans for today's hunt were discussed.

* * *

"Come on Haru…" Rei encouraged, making wide gestures for the dolphin to move. He'd been so perfectly obedient and docile up until this point. Doing everything he asked of him. But now, now the dolphin was refusing to cooperate at all, pressing himself against the far side of his tank.

They were trying to do a practice show for the alterred dolphin performance, with Haru as the finale, but said dolphin refused to leave the safety of his tank. "The other dolphins aren't in the show tank, Haru! Trust me! Just go!" The glasses wearing man pleaded, the other trainers giving him an annoyed look at how much time this was taking. This would never do in the real show.

Nagisa watched the ordeal with a pout before running along past Rei, grabbing a mackerel from the bucket behind him and sending it flying into the other tank. The reaction was immediate, with the dolphin racing toward the prey and grabbing it. Nagisa made a triumphant gesture and watched as Haru tensed, looked around and, after seeing the new tank really was void of other life, relaxed.

"Nagisa when did you get here?" Rei asked, staring at the short man who waved the question off. He merely shoved the other toward where the dolphin was now waiting.

"Just go, do your part! So that you all can squeeze one last big practice before your first show!" The blond brushed off, giving his back a firm comforting pat-although it seemed significantly lower than it probably should have been, much too close to his butt he deduced. Though the other _was_ height challenged so perhaps…anyway-before he skipped back away from whence he came. Rei would never, _ever_, understand his coworker.

Nevertheless, he followed the somewhat command and quickly ran over to have Haru do his tricks. He would swim out at the end of the show, jump up high into the sky, higher than any of the previous dolphins and wave his tail at the crowd. After, three more flips of varying height and direction would occur. His entire routine lasted no more than five minutes, and Rei was focused on making them count precisely.

Haruka didn't really care to know why they had him move into this tank, only glad that it was vacant. He had feared he would run into the pod and be forced into some sort of unwanted social interaction. He followed Blue's commands easily enough, enjoying his rewards before being directed to finally swim back into his home.

Rei let out a sigh of relief, ignoring the mumbles of his coworkers and watching Haru carefully to make sure he was fine. He heard the signal as the other trainers started the practice show one more time. The entire spectacle was about a half hour, and Haru appeared twenty five minutes in so he occupied himself by watching the dolphin swim gracefully.

When he did summon him, Haru seemed to have learned and entered the tank with little hesitation. Rei felt his entire body relax at that. The show was going to go just fine now. He was sure of it.

* * *

this chapter sucks im sorry its really boring but necessary

more fun next chapter i promise

please read and review and ill love you lots!

see you next week


	8. Chapter 8

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

"So…we're here." Rin announced, breaching alongside Makoto and his sister up at the surface of the ocean. They were a few meters from the coastline. It was populated by a decent amount of people, which made the trio keep low to the water to avoid being noticed. "Now what?"

Makoto smiled sheepishly, "I…I don't know." He replied honestly. He never really thought it out this far. He never really thought he would make it all the way out here. "Where is the park you mentioned?" He asked after a moment.

Rin pointed to the left, where a large fence jutted into the beach slightly but not close enough to the water's edge to be touched by any tides. "In there." He notified, frowning. It would be impossible to get in. This whole plan was stupid. Why did he come. Why did he drag his sister all the way out here. Why did he ever stick with this.

He looked over at Makoto's pensive handsome face and felt the questions didn't matter at all. He felt dumb for thinking that though. He felt dumb that his heart sped up at the sight. Especially after everything that had happened. Still, he had come this far, he wasn't just going to give up on the dumb whale now.

"Maybe we should ask the locals if they've seen a dolphin?" Gou offered, perched upon the orca's back and leaning down to speak to both boys. The trio ducked down into the ocean and looked around. There was nothing but void and the distant splashing of human feet. The ocean felt so empty.

"Why would anything come near two sharks and a killer whale." Rin sighed out, rolling his eyes that they even gave the thought a chance. Gou gave a shrug, scratching her head, embarrassed at her own suggestion. Makoto waved it off, smile never leaving his face.

"Let's find a cave and catch some lunch, ok? I'll figure something out…eventually." The orca continued, swimming away from the shore and leaving the sharks confused. Rin had been positive that the whale would only become more frantic and persistent about his impossible mission once they reached the shore. And yet…he seemed calm and passive. Had he realized the huge fault in his plan? Had he given up on the dolphin? His heart beat a little faster at the thought but he shook it away and simply followed.

Yet, when Rin caught up to him and looked over at his companion face, he could see some sort of resolve in the focused green eyes. As if he'd already decided something. The shark was oblivious to what that was though and didn't like the feeling of unease it gave him.

They found a cave easily enough, not too far from the shore but enough so that the humans wouldn't swim anywhere near it. It's proximity to the surface of the sea made the male shark slightly nervous. But his fears were quelled when he realized how deep it was as he helped his sister to the very back of the cave.

"Bring back something good, ok!" She called, watching him go. He gave her a smile. He wasn't sure exactly why he did so, it just felt right. Gou grinned from ear to ear. It was a rare treat to get a smile out of the grump that was her brother. She felt a sort of victorious warmth spread through her at the sight.

Rin swam out of the cave and looked around for the orca. Instinctively, he glanced upwards and found him with his head poking out of the water. He quickly joined him…and was ignored. Makoto seemed focused on the coast, a serious expression on his face that didn't match his personality. It bothered Rin, but he decided to make no comment and, instead, nudged the mammal quietly with one of his arms.

Green eyes flashed toward him and the pleasant smile resurfaced. "Ready?" He asked, to which the shark flashed a sharp toothy grin. The pair dove down into the blue water and scanned for possible prey. It was clear they would have to move further away from the coast, away from the human disruption which seemed to have scared most of the fish away, in order to find anything decent.

* * *

Haruka swam idly about, glancing every so often at Blue for his cue. He was never very good at keeping his own time so he could never simply assume when to go out into the show tank. It didn't really matter though.

Shows had become quite normal for the dolphin. It gave him something to do, although, the performance was getting quite old now. And becoming just as boring as swimming those dull circles. It couldn't be helped, however.

The first time he'd been instructed into the show pool during a live performance he had frozen up. He hadn't expected the noise nor the huge crowd of humans before him. Noisy humans. He remembered he'd immediately ducked to go back into his own tank, only to find the wall already down. He had contemplated jumping into his home like before but saw Blue urging him onwards with his hand signals.

He had decided to go along and pretend the cacophony of humans wasn't there. That it was only him, Blue, and the water. And soon enough he was back in his own tank, alone and in blissful quiet.

The noise no longer shocked him and neither did the sight. He performed his part with practiced ease, dazzling the crowd with his amazing height and beautiful acrobatics. He didn't really care about the praise though. He didn't care that he had become some famed dolphin in the park. He didn't care that he had won the hearts of children, that his name and face had been plastered on anything that could feasibly sell. He simply enjoyed swimming and diving.

And the mackerel too, he supposed.

* * *

Once they had returned with a sizable portion, Rin entered the cave to find his sister fidgeting in the dark, back corner. He dumped her portion of the meal before her and gave her a quizzical look. She reddened slightly. It made him all the more confused.

"Is something wrong?" He asked bluntly, giving her a steady stare. She seemed perfectly fine when he had had left her only a few hours ago. She laughed at the remark, waving him off with an agitated hand.

"I'm fine!" She stated emphatically, before changing the subject, "Anyway, what…exactly…is the plan now?" She asked, scratching her neck awkwardly.

Rin gave an honest shrug, "I mean, I think he's going to have to realize how pointless this all was. We'll stay here until then. Are you ok in this cave? We can find another."

"No! This is a great cave!" The lady replied instantly, waving her arms about in an exaggerated yet firm manner. Rin furrowed his brows at the odd reaction, becoming more and more suspicious. He lashed his tail behind him.

"Gou, what's wrong." This time he didn't ask. He demanded. There was something terribly off about his sister and he wanted to know why.

The girl let out a sigh, looking down and away, "Look, it's nothing really! And it's especially nothing to worry about! In fact, I'm quite happy!" She added after a thought, looking up and smiling that old smile Rin had not seen since the incident. It made his own lips twitch up in turn, but he forced them back down to a neutral line. She was being vague and it was obvious she was trying to hide something. His sister was never a good liar.

Rin realized he wasn't going to get anything out of her anytime soon and decided, only because he had not seen his sister smile so truly in so very long, to drop the subject.

Gou let out a nervous giggle,"I think…I think everything's going to be just fine."

And everything truly was. The trio remained by the coast for a few days, simply living a sedentary life and relaxing their tired fins. Gou seemed to shine brighter every day, and Rin, himself, seemed to feed off her change in mood in turn. The only one who seemed to sully the vibe, although never intentionally, if the fake smile plastered to his face had anything to say, was Makoto. He grew quieter every day, more thoughtful, more distant. No one commented on it.

Sometimes, Rin felt as though Gou didn't even notice the drastic change in their mammalian friend. Was he just going crazy? The worry pecked at him every now and then until the weird behavior finally got to him at the end of one fateful hunt.

"I don't think this is enough for all three of us." Rin stated, holding onto their kill of a couple fish. Makoto waved him off as they started back for the cave. "Why stop now, anyway?" The shark continued, confusion swirling within him. Usually, they would keep hunting until they were too tired or had caught a big enough meal. Now, Makoto was forcing them to head back even before the sun began to set.

"What is up with you?" Rin demanded as they reached the cave, unnerved by the uncharacteristic silence from his chatty friend. He couldn't believe he was missing the others incessant talk. He stopped and stared at the other, "You're not acting like yourself at all!" He was sick of it.

"I'm sorry." Makoto mumbled quietly, but gave no other answer. He didn't match the shark's intense gaze. Nevertheless, Rin didn't take his eyes off him as he called for Gou at the mouth of the cave and set the kill down. The orca seemed a bit bothered by that fact, frowning slightly.

"Don't just say sorry!" Rin growled out, angry, his tail lashing impatiently. "Just explain!" He continued, crossing his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Rin." Makoto repeated in a murmur, only this time, it was with a tone of extreme sincerity that made the shark freeze and really look at the other. The killer whale was tense, his eyes seemed distant and unfocused.

"What are you talkin-" The predator couldn't finish his sentence as he was wrapped in a tight desperate hug. He tensed up, unsure how to react and feeling his face heating up as the orca pressed his face into his shoulder. He was squeezed harder.

"I'm sorry for everything." was whispered into his tingling skin and it made the shark's breath hitch and eyes widen in shock. "Tell Gou I said goodbye, ok?" The orca continued before pulling away completely, giving one last apologetic smile before turning tail and swimming off.

Gou poked her head out to see the orca go. She was wide eyed, shocked at how early the pair had returned to their home. She had not been expecting them so soon, and she began to fidget with her hands. However, the sudden drop in atmosphere made her cast away her own personal worries.

Rin watched the mammal leave, paralyzed with confusion and shock until his sister's voice broke him from his reverie. "Rin?, what's going on? Where's Makoto rushing off to?" She questioned, reminding him of her existence. The male shark slowly turned to face his sister.

"He said goodbye." He murmured, making the young girl's eyes widen further, and soon they were matching his very own. They shared a look. Rin felt his heart begin to beat erratically, "He said goodbye!" He repeated, the shout leaving a bitter taste in his mouth and before he could even process anything properly he was swimming after the large mammal.

"Rin! Wait!" He heard his sister cry but he refused to turn around, only shouting back, "I have to stop him!" He raced to catch up to him, his tail propelling him forth in a desperate spring. There was no way the orca could just _leave_ like that! Not after everything…Not after…making it feel like he belonged with them. This wasn't fair! He gritted his sharp teeth, where the hell would the orca _even go?_

He let out a gasp as he realized the answer to his own question, speeding up his swimming as much as he could. _He wouldn't._ The shark insisted in his own mind, even as the dark reality was making itself clearer and clearer the more time passed. As the coastline became extremely close and the orca was not changing his path at all, if anything he was speeding up.

"MAKOTO DON'T!" Rin screamed desperately as the orca slammed himself into the coast and out of the water. The humans loitering the beach let out panicked shrieks and started to run at the sudden sight of a killer whale beaching itself onto the sand. So deep only his tail lightly touched the water's edge.

Rin didn't hesitate either as he swam up to the edge of the ocean and grabbed at the other's tail in a desperate attempt to pull him back into the sea. The whale was much to heavy though but he, nevertheless, continued anyway. The screams grew in desperation and horror around them as the humans evacuated at the news that not only was an orca beached but _there was a shark still trying to kill it_.

* * *

"Rei! Rei I need your help right now!" Nagisa shouted, running into the dolphin exhibit in search of his man. The park was closing and many of their coworkers had already left. But he knew the glasses wearing man well enough to know he would still be around. Said man looked up from where he was watching Haru to stare at the panicking blond.

Which was his first warning that there was something deeply wrong. Nagisa never panicked. He only laughed and smiled and giggled. He quickly stood up and gave the other his full attention. Rei pushed his glasses up his nose, "What's wrong? Is it the killer whales?" He asked seriously.

"Funny you should say that! There's a killer whale beached on the ocean and if we don't get there fast he'll die. I've called the others but we need to get there _now_. Grab a bucket!" And with that the shorter man sprinted out of the exhibit and out of the park. Rei gave Haru one last look before rushing right back after his coworker, nabbing a large bucket on the way.

Haruka blinked at the frantic exchange and shrugged, slipping back into his water and enjoying his lazy circles, oblivious to their language and worries and perfectly content with that fact.

* * *

Rin ducked into the waves again to breathe before surfacing and grabbing at the orca. He tried to splash some water onto his fast drying friend with his own tail. "Makoto! What the fuck are you doing! You'll die!" He shouted, angry and anxious and desperate. Makoto thrashed his black and white tail to try to get rid of the sharks grip, but not rough enough to actually hurt him.

"Let me go, Rin!" He snapped, clawing at the sand to try to pull himself further out of the sea. "I'm getting into that park!"

"All this for a dumb ass dolphin? He might not even be in that park! Are you insane!?" Rin reasoned, clinging tightly to the tail and pulling, "You'll die! For nothing!" He could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. His friend was doomed and there was nothing he could do about it. He pushed the thoughts away, gritting his teeth.

"It wouldn't be for nothing if it was for Haruka!"

Rin's heart sank at the words. He really could never match up to the stupid cetacean. But that did not mean he would give up and allow the killer whale to ruin his own life. The shark clawed at the others tail, not caring if he made the other bleed as he kept his grip and wrenched back.

It was then he saw the humans coming.

He saw them shouting and pointing. There was a whole pack of them. Their eyes seemed to meet and he felt his whole body tremble. He had not been so close to humans since the incident. He froze up.

"Rin, get back in the water." Makoto ordered in a controlled hiss, looking over his shoulder to gaze at him for the first time since their parting embrace. Rin stared at him with wide, fearful eyes before flicking them back at the group of humans. The tears were beginning to spill over. The glint of a harpoon caught his eye and he tensed up even further, nails digging into the orca's tail. "Rin, I said get back in the water!"

And before Rin could even react, Makoto used all his strength in his powerful tail to smash him back into the ocean and out of harms way. Satisfied in seeing his friend disappear into the waves, he looked back in front of him and rested his head on the sandy beach, feeling relieved and allowing himself to relax. Rin would be safe in the water.

That is, until he saw one of the humans barking orders at the one with the harpoon and pointing after the shark. He started to squirm in his spot, fearing the worse for his friend, but soon two humans from the back of the group came to his side.

"There, there big guy we got you!" A blond, short human cooed, pointing his taller companion at the ocean. Makoto watched out of the corner of his eye as the taller blue haired man filled a bucket with seawater only to pour it all over his back. He let out a gasp. It felt so refreshing and nice. He had not realized how much he had dried out in the chaos of it all.

As the blue haired man continued the process, the blond circled him, seeming to investigate his entire being. He stopped by his tail, "He has deep lacerations on his tail fin, most like from that shark. It needs to be patched up or he wont be able to swim properly…. We can't push him back into the ocean like this." Nagisa thought aloud, turning to look over at the sea where the local fisherman had raced after the shark in a small boat.

"I've never seen a shark attack an orca so boldly…" He continued, turning his gaze back to the injured mammal, "To chase this big guy this far out of the ocean…It makes no sense! Rei, you're smart tell me what's going on!"

"You think I have any idea?" Rei questioned, still in shock of it all. "All I know is that shark is most likely extremely dangerous and should be dealt with immediately. This is a popular beach spot after all."

Nagisa nodded grimly, deciding to focus on the whale of a problem before him-pun intended he thought with a mental snicker. No he needed to be serious right now. They needed to keep the animal alive until the rest of the trainers arrived. He would let the local fishermen deal with the crazed shark. He kneeled down and rubbed the poor wounded animal's head, giving him an encouraging smile, "You're going to be just fine, big guy!"

* * *

Rin was terrified, choked up with fear at the memory of losing his father and almost his sister to angry fishermen. He had watched as they speared his father right through the heart and brought his lifeless corpse into their boat never to be seen again. He had watched as they grabbed his little sister and finned her mercilessly, throwing her back into the ocean where she sank, helplessly, no matter how hard she struggled. He remembered them reaching for him immediately after and he remembered biting at them before wrestling away and swimming deep into the ocean after his sibling.

She had landed on a ledge, breathing ragged breathes as blood spilled from her back. Rin didn't know what to do but to hold her tightly to him and keep watch for hours, fearful the blood would attract anyone. He couldn't even mourn the loss of his father. He had felt so numb.

Even when it turned out, miraculously, that his sister survived, he had felt numb. He stopped truly smiling and only focused on keeping his sister alive another day with her new disability. It became a mantra for them. Just stay alive one more day. Just one more day.

It was just him and her against the world for the longest time. And it was fine like that.

He turned back to see the boat still chasing after him and he tried to speed up, making sure to stay away from where Gou was hiding. Hopefully the humans would give up and return to shore and he could get his sister out of this dangerous area. Like hell they were staying here a moment longer. As soon as he felt he had gained enough ground between the boat he sunk deep deep down and out of sight.

He heard the boat motor stop and waited. Holding his breath and clutching at a rock as he strained to hear them leave. It felt like ages when they finally did. He breathed a sigh of relief, slowly ascending to peer over the blue water and make sure they were heading backwards.

They were.

But they were heading for Gou's cave.

He felt his heart shatter even more as he saw her head sticking out from the water, searching him out, oblivious. He raced for her, he was exhausted but it did not stop him from swimming as fast as he could, more desperate than he had ever been before. He shouted for her to get down as the boat rocketed toward her and she turned to his voice, seeing the boat between them.

He saw her eyes widened as she ducked down into the ocean. For a moment he thought she was safe, but then he saw the fisherman throw their spear. He held his breath, continuing to lash his tail through the water, only to smell the scent of blood and see its red stain spreading through the ocean.

It was nauseating.

The harpoon was drawn back and then shoved again, and this time he heard his sister's screams. He shouted for her in turn, surging forward only to find the humans trying to haul her body up. He couldn't tell if she was alive and he pushed the thought away, even when he reached her he clung to some semblance of a hope. He took hold of the blade, not caring as it cut deep into his own hands and yanked it out of his baby sister.

He grabbed her sinking form, hugging it close and slipping into the cave, deep, deep within. He lay her down and looked her over to confirm what he had already feared when he had pressed her cold limp body to his chest. One stab wound straight through her heart.

He felt the tears flow down his cheeks-many more than he had shed earlier-and buried his face into her long red hair that matched his own. He held her close to his chest, shuddering horribly. He couldn't stop shaking. He felt so tiny, so helpless, _so useless._

So alone.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Gou." He whispered desperately into her ear, "I never thought…I…" He faltered and just clutched her closer to his chest, alone in the cave filled only with his sorrows and nothing nor nobody else.

* * *

That was fun right guys : D

Happy times

please read and review!

see you next week

EDIT: IF YOU WANT TO DRAW FANART FEEL FREE! JUST LIKE LINK BACK TO THE FIC OR SOMETHING. ALSO SEND ME A MESSAGE I WANT TO SEE IT! THANK YOU SWEETIES


	9. Chapter 9

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Rin stayed in that cave with his dead sister for days. He refused to leave her side, to move, to do anything but press himself against her and nuzzle her hair and fill his thoughts with intense regret. It was only until the hunger was too much that he realized he couldn't keep doing this.

He considered just dying beside his sister. But then he thought of Makoto and he took in a deep breath. He nudged her body deeper into the cave, moving around the rocks to give her some sort of cover in her makeshift watery grave. He whispered a quiet, empty goodbye and turned around, leaving the cave and entering the wide ocean.

He felt so numb.

Instead of hunting though, he was drawn toward the surface, slipping his head out and peering over at the sandy beach. His heart sank further at the sparsely populated bank. There was no beached mammal.

He sank back into the ocean feeling all the more alone. Makoto was gone, whether dead or captured he would never know. It was best to just assume he was dead. Gou was dead. He hugged himself tightly. He felt his breath hitch and the tears fall down again.

He felt so weak.

He dived deeper into the ocean for some morsel to feed on, gritting his teeth. He was a shark. He was suppose to be alone. Live alone, hunt alone. He had been spoiled. What was he thinking? Hanging out with an orca, doing fucking flips. He was a shark and thats what he would be.

He growled and narrowed his eyes searching for prey in the dark depths of the sea.

* * *

Makoto opened his eyes blearily, letting out a loud groan. He heard shouts around him and tried to lift his head to look around. There were humans surrounding him. He squinted his eyes at them in confusion. He was in an extremely small shallow pool. Practically beached but half submerged in water. He couldn't move. He felt his heart race. He started to squirm.

"You've had a rough time." Nagisa soothed, hosing him down lightly, "There, there."

And the poor whale really had. They needed a helicopter to get him to the facility which had taken a long time to arrive. Furthermore, once in, they had to deal with his wounded tail as best they could. "Now that he's awake do you think we could get him to swim into the tank?" He asked one of his co-trainers, who went to examine the tail once more before giving a slight nod.

"Okie dokie!" He shouted, moving away from the killer whale to give the signal to raise the gate. Makoto still felt quite tired, but he could feel the humans nudging him and decided to just comply, slowly swimming forward toward the opening until he was let into a large tank. Or at least, larger than the space he had just been in. He noticed how much his tail stung as he waved it through the water.

He couldn't remember anything for the life of him. He looked around in confusion. Half of the tank had clear walls that rose up high above the water's edge, while the back end had a slide out. He dipped his head under and found the tank to be slightly deep, but not all that much. And after circling the tank a few times, he discovered it to be relatively small for his size.

What was he doing here?

"Is it alright for him to stay in the show tank?" Rei asked, having weaseled his way into the killer whale area. Nagisa looked over at him in surprise.

"We don't have any other tank for him to stay in that's big enough! I dont wanna put him with the other orcas with a bad tail. They can be quite vicious you know!" He explained, patting Rei on the shoulder. The glasses toting man frowned, watching the new mammal circle his tank slowly.

"Now now, Rei! You've got your own dolphin to worry about, ok! Don't worry about this one. I'll handle him just fine!" Nagisa grinned up at him, "But its cute how worried you are!" he added, standing up on his tip toes to pinch the other's cheek. Rei pulled back and rubbed at his reddening face and glared down at his co-worker, grumbling something. "Plus, look at the time! You gotta get going!" He reminded, turning Rei around forcibly. The other flicked his glasses up in annoyance. Nagisa grinned quite devilishly, "Good luck in your show!" The blond added, landing a nice smack on the other's equally nice ass to send him on his way.

Rei let out the most adorable squawk, glasses almost falling off his nose at the jump he made. He was bright red, fiddling them back in place, too embarrassed to even scold the other as he quickly scurried back to his own exhibit. Nagisa giggled for a moment, letting his slightly warm fingers dance in the air.

Nagisa's smile fell once he disappeared and he look over at the orca. They only had female orcas in the park, and usually they got them when they were quite young. This killer whale was clearly still a teenager, nevertheless that could make him much more aggressive. He frowned, crouching to watch the whale float for air, "I wonder how you'll do…" Then again, he wasn't even sure if it was right to keep him here. Maybe they would just send him back to sea as soon as his tail healed up. Although, he doubted the higher ups would ever let a money maker like him from their grasps. And Nagisa, himself, deep down, didn't want the other to depart just yet. He was too curious.

What was the orca even doing so close to shore? And all by himself, nevertheless?

Makoto ignored the blond human staring at him, trying to figure out his muddled memories. He remembered his pod, he remembered swimming in the ocean and then… Why was it all so fuzzy to him? He couldn't quite understand. Something important gnawed at his mind painfully and made him worry. How had he gotten here?

Muffled music began to play and he lifted his head, looking around for the source. Past his tank was a large wall and past _that_ he could see the top of a stadium where speakers were blasting peppy music and humans were chattering. He was about to look away when a dolphin came into view, spinning high in the air.

Dolphins.

_Haruka_.

And everything came back to him. The fishermen, the journey, the beaching, Gou, Rin. _Rin. _Makoto hoped he was ok and had made it back into the ocean unscathed, that he and Gou had safely swum away. He felt awful for dragging them into all this. But he needed to get captured, he needed to know if Haruka was alive and was here. Or if everything was for naught.

He looked back at the show and watched with fascination every time a dolphin jump. There were at least four, he managed to realize, doing flips high enough for him to see. None of them were Haruka. He knew Haruka could jump much higher than them. He knew he would be able to see him if he was there.

But he didn't see him. And the music was starting to fade. And the flips became less frequent. And the show seemed to be ending. Then there was silence and nothing.

What if Haruka _wasn't_ here? What if he had just trapped himself _willingly_ forever in this tiny bathtub? What if he never saw his mother or father or Ran or Ren again? What if he never saw Gou nor Rin again either?

The realization shattered him, and he quickly looked away from the scene, ducking down to the bottom of the tank in misery. Had he really forsaken everything for nothing? The thought was too much for him to bear and he quickly huddled himself up and tried to forget the world around him.

* * *

Something in Rin changed over the next few days. He stopped caring about anything. He was angry always. And always alone. Bitterness consumed him and he lashed about the waters, his tail cutting its way through its murky depths as he hunted continuously.

He did not leave the coast. Instead, he made the decision to stay with a heart filled with cruel intent.

Humans had destroyed everything he ever loved, and he would make it his life's work to repay them for their trouble. He would terrorize their beach. He would strike fear in their hearts, and dodge all of their attacks.

He wasn't afraid of them.

He wasn't afraid of anything.

He was certainly not afraid to die.

There was nothing left for him on this mortal plane, but there was no way he would go out with a whimper. He would leave an impression, a blood soaked mark on this terrible strip of land and this terrible species. They would pay for what they did to his father, his sister…and Makoto.

It was with that in mind he made the shallow waters his new home. He made his presence known, swimming close to the surface and diving near unsuspecting swimmers. Their shrieks of terror made him smirk, and although he never _killed_ anyone, he did partake in the occasional wounding bite of a leg or two.

It was with a certain sense of smugness that he saw the weeks go by and less swimmers return, and more angry fishermen swarming to get him. He became quite skilled at evading them, and the number of fishers after him began to decrease every day.

Now only the crazy few dared bother him in his territory.

But they would never win. He had honed his skills and was the top of the top. He would survive, easily.

And yet, Rin was always, _always_ infinitely sad and no amount of blood could fix his ruined heart.

He swam about the shallow ocean, one clear morning, enjoying the silence and the lack of humans on the beach with a triumphant smirk. He prowled about in search of food, his sharp teeth glittering in the water as he slashed about.

He found a school of fish in the distance and slowed his movements, beginning to stalk his prey carefully. It was easy enough. He'd gotten better at hunting over the past few weeks, and returning to solitary stalking was instinctively easy. However, he did miss the strategizing, the conversations…the companionship… He missed the fucking orca so much. He missed his sister even more.

"Hello there, Mr. Shark!"

Rin whirled around at the sound, the sudden movement making the fish he had been following quickly disperse. He growled, searching out the creature that had ruined his damn hunt.

The creature came to him first, seeming to pop from no where and swim before him, waving a friendly hand. "Hello!" He greeted once more, giving a pleasant happy smile. He had gray blue hair, brilliant blue eyes and the palest skin he had ever seen. He was shorter than him, with a white and black striped tail that swished behind him idly.

Rin barred his teeth, letting out a low animalistic snarl, lunging for the fish that dared disturb his meal. The smaller fish's eyes widened and he swam back, flinching. "Wait! Wait! Wait!" He cried, his hands shooting out protectively as he began to cower, "I'm a pilot fish! A friend! I noticed you were alone! And well I…I'm alone now too! So I thought, uh…" He peered around his hands a moment, to find…the shark was swimming away.

Rin had never been a fan of eating food that was trying to talk to him. It didn't sit well in his gut. Not that he was soft or anything, it just didn't taste as good. But he also could care less about what the pilot fish had to say and decided to just fuck it and leave. He wanted dinner god damn it.

Yet, as he glanced behind him, he found the fish to be quite persistent as it continued to follow him. He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore him, speeding up his strokes...only to find him swimming up to his side and smiling up at him brightly. It infuriated the other. He stopped in his tracks.

"Ok, what the fuck do you want?!" He finally demanded, glaring down at the fish.

The boy shrank back slightly, fidgeting with his hands, "I'm Aichirou Nitori and umm I was wondering if I could hang out with you for a bit? Please? You know symbiotic relationships and all that!" The fish trailed off into an awkward laugh as the shark continued to glare at him.

"I swim alone." Was the curt, bit out response, "And i'd suggest you do the same before I change my mind about letting you go." He added, turning away.

"But-But Mr. Shark! Pl-Please! I can help you! It's dangerous to go al-alone!" The striped fish insisted persistently, charging back to the taller boy's side. "The humans are angry here! They're adamant about keeping us out!" He tried to inform.

"Yeah, I know." Rin snorted, not sending the annoying a parasite a second glance, "I'm the one harassing them."

The fish seemed to stop, "You…" And he seemed to falter. The sudden silence made Rin stop in his swimming and look behind him. The fish's eyes were shadowed by his bangs and he looked to be trembling. "Wh-Why?!" He suddenly shouted in a loud voice that did not fit his small body. It took Rin aback. "Why-Why would you make them angry?"

"Because humans took everything I had." Rin snapped in a tone dripping with venom and bitterness, his face contorting into an angry sneer. He didn't need to explain himself to him, to anyone. He was about to swim away and end this nonsense.

"Well, you're not the only one!" The fish remarked, getting a bit more confident, "An-And now you're just making it worse for the rest of us!"

"I have nothing to lose." Rin growled, somehow still sucked into the damn exchange of words.

"Well, neither do I!"

"Then why do you care?" He asked, wondering why he had even stopped swimming. He was getting soft again.

The boy seemed to falter, "Because…I want to live…"

Rin turned away, "Then live."

"I dont want to live alone…" Was the quiet mumbled response, "I dont think I _can_."

Rin let out an angry sigh, "Look, kid. I've got my own problems. I'm done babysitting fish!"

"I just want to help another shark again!"

"Find another one!"

"No one dares come here anymore…"

"Just leave me the fuck alone."

"Mr. Shark, with all do respect, I think you're just as lonely as me!"

"Don't fucking talk to me."

But with every rebuttal the shark gave, the fish seemed to grow more confident in his position. Until finally the shark simply decided to ignore him entirely. Unfortunately, the striped boy took this is an invitation to talk-about anything and everything. It reminded Rin too much of a certain talkative mammal. It made him angry and sad.

But also nostalgic and his heart hurt and a part of him really did want to accept the little vulnerable fish into his company if only to stop the torturous isolation he'd fallen into. Yet, he didn't want to get hurt again by letting another person in.

The fish seemed oblivious to his inner turmoil and continued to chatter ceaselessly.

Rin was still very hungry, "Be quiet alright I'm trying to hunt." He growled lowly, swishing his tail faster through the water.

The fish seemed to quiet at that, and his smile grew, as he sped his own swimming to match his new companion's. "Of course, Mr. Shark." He whispered.

Rin felt his eye twitch, "Dont call me that. It's Rin."

"Okie dokie, Mr. Rin!"

Rin felt as though his eye would never stop twitching.

* * *

Nagisa frowned at the slow moving killer whale in the tank. He could tell the large creature was not doing well at all. His tail didn't look nearly as damaged as the mammal's mood and behavior seemed to suggest. Maybe he was lonely. Although, no one had seen another killer whale by the coast, and it was assumed he was a rogue.

"What are we going to do with you?" He mumbled, crouching close to the water, but not too close. He was very cautious of the beast, not yet used to the other's mannerisms. Killer whales could be-no _are_-vicious. "And you still need a name." He continued aloud, tapping at his chin in thought.

He was disturbed by the sudden flare of music behind him, and looked up to see that the dolphin show was starting up again. He stood up but couldn't see over the fence. He had seen it a thousand times before, hell, he had been _in_ it a thousand times before. And yet, now that Rei was the finale, he felt compelled to watch it every time.

However, he didn't particularly feel comfortable leaving the orca alone in this state, especially since he was the only person on duty today. He supposed he would just watch the next show.

Makoto floated listlessly, filled with bitterness and regret. He could hear the now familiar music of the dolphin show beside him, but he did not bother looking over. He wanted to go home. He wanted his brother and sister. He wanted his father. He wanted his mom. He wanted Kou. He wanted Rin. He wanted Haru.

He would never have any of them ever again beside him. The thought was too much and he sank to the bottom of the pool, hugging his trembling form in some desperate form of comfort. It didn't help much at all. He stayed below the water for quite some time, holding his breath and wondering if there was any point in taking another.

He did, of course, breaking the surface and taking in a big gulp of oxygen. But the thoughts still plagued him. The music was dying down. The show seemed to be ending. He started to feel sick to his stomach, and was about to sink down once more, when the music began to flare up again. He had never noticed that. He always thought the show ended when the music first did. He looked over in its direction to see nothing. But the music was definitely building for something. And then he saw him.

Shooting up gracefully into the air, eyes closed and focused, reaching higher than any of the other cetaceans he had seen days earlier, was Haruka. And even though it had been weeks, hell even months, he was absolutely certain. The dark hair swaying in the air, the calm expression, the beautiful blue gray tail, the utter grace in form as he flipped in the air. It was Haru in the flesh, _alive_. Makoto gasped and before he could even think let out the loud shout, "Haruka!"

The dolphin's, closed, calm, serene blue eyes snapped open, searching for the voice of the sound before locking eyes on the orca. Makoto waved his arms widely, splashing the water around him in his frantic excitement. Blue eyes widened further, as he seemed to freeze in place in air. But then gravity took force and he dropped down out of Makoto's sight. The orca raced over to the edge of his tank, getting as close he possibly could. There was a space between wear the splash guard walls ended and the slide out began, where it was simply the edge of the tank. He gripped the edge, hauling himself slightly up and out to shout, "Haru! Haruka!"

Nagisa stared at the sudden movement, jumping to his feet as the sea mammal seemingly charged toward him. He backed away, slamming his back into the fence that separated the two exhibits and letting out a pained grunt. He quickly fixed his eyes back on the splashing mammal. His behavior was erratic and he crying out. He furrowed his brow at the sight.

Haruka ignored Blue's next command, ignored all of his surroundings for that matter, diving back down and jumping straight up to peer over the fence and confirm what must have been an illusion, "Makoto? Makoto!" He called, finding the other waving at him frantically from the edge of his own tank. Brown hair, green eyes, strong arms, black and white tail…It had to be him. It had to be.

The dolphin's heart seemed to stop at the sight and he quickly dove back down. By now all the trainers were trying to get his attention back on the show but there really was no point in that. He could care less. Nothing mattered anymore in the entire world except lacing his fingers between Makoto's own. To be home again. He swam to one end of the tank before barreling towards the opposite side in order to gain the needed momentum.

He didn't hesitate or think twice about his decision.

He jumped.

* * *

dat ending man

will they finally meet? dun dun duuuun

also yeah sorry about last chapter lol

please review my darlins i love you

see you next week!


	10. Chapter 10

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Haruka jumped, arcing over the tall fence and heading straight for the orca tank. Makotos eye's widened fearfully, wondering if his best friend would make such a dangerous jump. What was he thinking?! He quickly swam backwards to give the other room as Haruka _just_ made the tank, scraping his chest and tail painfully against the cement edge.

The audience soon descended into screams and shouts and chaos. The trainers rushed out of the dolphin area, flooding into the orca pen because _killer whales eat dolphins_. Nagisa hurried over to try to get a sense of the situation, seeing the water around the two dolphins become clouded with blood. He turned around and started calling for a net and food to try to trick the larger cetacean to swim away from his new prey.

Below the surface of the water, Haruka attached himself to his long lost friend, clinging to him tightly. Makoto was in a state of shock, not knowing how to react. Being suddenly reunited with the person he'd swum miles for… And having the normally reclusive dolphin clinging to him so desperately… It was all too surreal. He blinked and felt the other touching his face and turning his head to look at him, those blue eyes wide and searching. It was only then he realized the other was speaking-or maybe a better word would be chanting-his name.

"Makoto. Makoto! Makoto, you're here right? This is you right? Makoto say something!" Haruka pleaded, shaking the orca slightly, worried by the other's dazed expression. It had been so long, too long, had he forgotten what his best friend looked like? Was he mistaken? Was this just a dream?

The crack in the smaller boy's voice broke the killer whale's heart, and the brunet soon took the other's hands from his face and held them tightly in his own. "Yes it's me, Haru. It's me. Everything's fine."

And the relief that rippled through the dolphin's expression only made him feel all the worse. Just what had he endured in this prison? He was about to continue his soothing when he saw a net descend around them. Blue eyes caught sight of it too.

Haruka panicked, pressing closer to the whale in sudden fear of being separated once more. He wrapped his arms tightly around the other's neck, burrowing his face into the crook of his shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to block out reality. He was in a state of shock; he just needed more time to accept the fact that Makoto was here.

The orca held him just as close, but tried to think of some sort of plan or action. He backed into the wall, away from the nets instinctively. It was only then he realized he had backed them into a corner. They were trapped. Makoto's tail lashed out in frustration.

He rose to the surface for air and glared at the surrounding human crowd, tugging the dolphin closer toward him protectively. There was no way he would let them be separated now. Haruka made no move to pull away.

There were murmurs and tense silence among the humans at the scene. Nagisa peered at the situation closely and curiously. There was blood in the pool, and yet the dolphin seemed relatively unharmed. Furthermore said cetacean did not make any movement to get away from the predator.

"Everyone stop!" He shouted, stepping closer to the two mammals and crouching. The orca backed away slightly, bringing the dolphin with him. The trainers paused obediently in their frantic motions, looking over at the blond in confusion. He paid them no mind, "I don't think he's hurting him. Let's just watch for a second."

Makoto remained tense, even as the humans seemed to stop all action. He was on guard and for the first time ever he felt like a killer whale willing to kill for his family, his loved one, if he needed to. The anger coursing through his veins surprised him, and somewhat scared him, but he kept those thoughts at bay.

Haruka squirmed as he caught sight of the familiar human face and pulled away from the orca's embrace. Makoto let him go with a bit of hesitation, trusting the look the dolphin sent him. Haruka swam a distance away, made a lazy circle before going over to where Yellow was watching him oh so carefully. He splashed him in annoyance, as if to say, leave me alone and let me be.

Nagisa shouted in surprise, getting thoroughly soaked. There was a tense silence among the trainers until the short man's boisterous laughter put everyone back at ease. He weaved some fingers through his wet hair, letting the droplets scatter about his person. When he blinked his eyes open again, having squeezed them shut at the onslaught of liquid, he found the dolphin swimming back to the patiently waiting orca. And even, at least from his perspective, nuzzle into his side.

"Nagisa…" Rei was the one to break the silence after the laugh faded off, worry shining in his eyes as he came forward. "What should we do?"

"Well, I think Haru wants to stay there so I say let him be!" He smiled, with a shrug, standing up and shaking about. It was something that simply came to him, with the spray of the water. He had never seen Haru so relaxed than in that moment. There was a certain spring in his movements, and the way he insisted on being near the predator soothed the worry in his mind. Furthermore, the fact the orca was equally calm, and never chased after the intruder, but merely allowed it into his space… He could tell Haru was safe. He just knew it.

"You…You can't be serious!" Rei reasoned, looking over to the dolphin with concern, "That orca could turn at any second! He could kill him!"

"Then why hasn't he already?" Nagisa probed, "I mean, both of them are pretty weird. I say let them be weird together."

Rei frowned, glaring at the other with such intensity that it made Nagisa's heart sink. Nevertheless, he held firm in his decision, ordering the other trainers to get the net out and return to their posts. They complied, moving about and slowly dispersing from the area back to their jobs. The dolphin trainers regressed to their own area, murmuring amongst themselves about having to change the show once more, or at the very least, put it on hold.

Rei remained.

"Rei, get back to the dolphin area." Nagisa ordered softly, feeling a bit guilt for snapping at the other earlier.

Rei didn't look up at him, but kept his eyes on the two cetaceans floating in the pool. "Haru is my responsibility. I'm staying here and watching him."

Nagisa frowned, "Rei, I can handle Haru just fine, go back to your area." He continued.

Rei didn't answer him but pushed his way past him to sit by the edge of the pool near his charge and his would be killer.

"Rei, you're not qualified to be so close to orcas. It's dangerous!" The blond pressed, pouting further and scrunching his eyebrows together. It worried him how close the other was to the killer whale. Rei was not the best swimmer. He should not be that close. He bit his lip.

"And yet, you let Haru stay even if he's that dangerous." Rei snarled bitterly, not turning around from his vigil. He would sit and watch and make sure the dolphin was ok.

Nagisa let out a sigh, thinking a moment before finally settling down beside the other trainer. Rei didn't turn to look at him, but moved so they were a few inches apart. The blond figured not to press him for once, deciding to sit in silence with the other, keeping his own vigil over the blue haired man.

* * *

Rin felt his hands clench into tight fists as the damn fish would _not_ stop talking. He really was too nice. Even though he was trying to be a lot more colder, he'd still managed to have another companion weasel into his life. But it was a fucking useless fish rather than an apex predator.

Nitori remained oblivious, swimming perkily beside his protecter, yammering about this and that easily enough. Neither were paying attention to where they were going. Nitori was too busy chattering, Rin was too busy trying to ignore him.

As such, it seemed Rin's fins subconsciously carried him to a certain cave he had made a point not to go anywhere near. He froze up when he realized, stopping dead still at its foreboding mouth. Nitori stopped too. Rin felt the bitter taste of blood in his mouth, smelled the phantom stench and heard his sister's screams ringing in his ears.

He shut his eyes closed, drawing back as if he had been burned. Nitori ventured toward the cave, placing a hand along its edge and running his pale dainty fingers across its rocky surface.

"Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. There." Rin hissed angrily, seething at the very sight of anybody daring to desecrate his sister's tomb.

"But Mr. Rin…" Nitori murmured, turning back around to reveal tears brimming at his eyes, "I don't understand? Why are you upset about this evil cave, too?"

Rin stared at him, as if his entire sense of self had been robbed before him, "Excuse me?"

"I…" Nitori looked down, down into the darkness of the sea, "I lost my dearest friend here…and a new friend too! I lost everyone I had…right here…" He whispered, his breath hitching slightly at the memory.

Rin's eyes widened, "What?! That can't be! _I_ lost everything here, not you!"

"Eh?" Nitori looked up, confusion dancing in his red irritated eyes. And then something seemed to dawn on him as he looked closely at his new companion. At his long red hair, at his piercing eyes… He seemed to gasp, "Mr. Rin! Are you…Are you Miss Kou's brother?" He asked suddenly, a light shining through his head. How could he not have seen that before?

The shark froze, it had felt like eons since he had heard his sister's name. He rushed over to the pilot fish, gripping his shoulders tightly and staring deeply into his face. There noses were almost touching and he could feel Nitori tensing in fear and confusion at the sudden movement beneath his powerful grip.

"Tell me every single thing you know about my sister right the fuck now!"

* * *

Nagisa and Rei fought all the time, but they could never _really_ fight, and so although the tension in the air was so palpable at first, it waned away fairly quickly. Rei simply could not hold a grudge, and Nagisa was much too sweet to stay mad at. It was something the handsome man's aura projected that kept him from ever getting angry at for long periods of time.

His shoulders slouched in defeat, and the blond took it as a sign to scooch a bit closer and let a smile slip his face once more. "I'm sorry if I sounded mean earlier." He apologized, looking over sweetly at the blue haired man.

Rei waved a hand, "It's alright. I apologize for not respecting you as a superior in front of others." He added, "And…And I can see that getting Haru out of there will prove difficult. At least for now." In their silent watch the dolphin and orca had never strayed from each other, not even for a second. And there was not a hint of aggression coming off either creature. It made Rei start to think…to think about everything he knew of Haru over the weeks of watching him…He began to recall any and all details he had filed away on his ward.

Nagisa hummed lowly, watching the pair swim together, "Didn't Haru hate company?" He asked aloud, that fact bothering him about the whole scenario. It just seemed so out of character for the dolphin. He also really wanted to see what all that blood was from, though it disappeared fairly quickly and neither creature seemed to be in pain…

"Yes. He seemed to prefer his solitude, which is quite uncharacteristic for the social nature of dolphins in the wild. He absolutely abhorred being near any of our other dolphins, although he was never violent toward them. He almost seemed terrified of their presence. The other dolphins, at first, were quite curious but they have since grown hostile toward him. As for the other trainers, he pays them no attention either. He only cares about food rewards. In addition-"

"Ok, ok! I know all that." Nagisa complained, rubbing his temples at the info dump he had just received, "What I want to know is why the sudden change? Why an orca?"

Rei seemed to pause, his eyes becoming steelier and turning back to the pair swimming together in the pool. "That I am not certain…However, I do have a tentative hypothesis…" The blond blinked, giving his companion his full attention. He looked up at him, arms drawn back and leaning forward slightly in order to listen better.

"Go on!"

"Well…" Rei flicked his glasses up, a little nervous and embarrassed about sharing the idea he had been rummaging through his head for only a short while. "Haru does not form bonds easily. It takes a lot of time and effort to get through to him. As such, I can not believe he would simply suicidally jump into another tank to make a new friend. I have noticed, however, that Haru has always seemed to be drawn to the killer whale tank. Whenever he did any jumps he always angled himself to face the exhibit. It was never really a problem. He never made any move to get into that tank either, even when our new friend appeared-what's the orca's name again?"

"Mako."

"Mako?"

"It means 'faithfulness'," Nagisa explained, eyes shining bright, "And I mean, look at the guy! He refuses to leave lil Haru's side, and keeps us away. Also we found him with that shark! And Mako is like a type of shark!" He grinned up at the blue haired man, "See, I can be good at name meanings too!"

Rei didn't know why his heart sped up at the happy declaration, nor why he felt the now familiar tingling of heated blood rushing to his face, but he decided to ignore it. He looked away again, pretending to lift his glasses up and shielding his face with his hand in the process, "R-Right. Nice choice."

"Thank you!" Came the sincere, happy response.

It didn't help Rei's nerves; he cleared his throat, "A-Anyway, even when Mako appeared he showed no interest in the orcas. Yet, it wasn't until Mako made that weird vocalization, do you remember? That was when Haru became interested and jumped."

"So? Whats the point?" The blond probed, his head hurting from all the confusing talk.

"I believe…that maybe they knew each other in the wild." Rei fidgeted slightly.

"But Haru was found far away, miles and miles! Mako ended up on the beach right here!" Nagisa insisted, his eyebrows furrowing at the very thought.

"Yes, but…Don't you remember Haru's strange circumstances?" The dolphin trainer continued, "He was being attacked by a _shark_ and a _killer whale_."

Nagisa began to frown.

"And not only that," The blue haired man continued, "But the fisherman stated the orca kept chase for quite a while before finally tiring out."

The short blond looked back at the pair of cetaceans in the pool, swimming close together. "Maybe they did know each other…" He mumbled out in acceptance, nibbling at his lower lip, "Oh no, Rei!" He shouted, turning around and suddenly grabbing the taller man's shirt, pulling him down to his shorter height. Rei almost stumbled, making a surprised sound at the movement, and their noses bumped. Rei flamed up; Nagisa didn't miss a beat.

"Nagisa, what are you-"

"We separated them! They were best friends and we separated them! We're terrible people! We should release them! Right now! Back into the ocean-"

"_Nagisa!_" The blond quieted and Rei managed to pull away from his grip and straighten back up, "It's not our decision to simply let them go. We need to figure out how to get Haru back in his tank for the shows…"

"No! He has to stay here with Mako!" Nagisa put his foot down on the issue.

"Haru is the most successful part of the dolphin show! The higher ups wont let us just lose all that money because of my own hypothesis of their perhaps friendship!"

"Then we'll just make a better show starring the two of them!"

* * *

Oblivious to the plotting humans, the cetaceans continued their close reunion and embrace, never losing contact with the other for more than a second.

"How did you get here?" Haruka breathed out, the danger of separation seeming to dissipate and yet, he refused to let go of the other. He still could not believe the orca was here, in the flesh, before him. Deep in the dark regresses of his mind he had been convinced he would never see the other again. And yet, here he was. "How?" He insisted, because although he was elated at his presence, the fact that Makoto was now also trapped here did not bade well in his heart.

His own hands danced around the other's form, trying to map out his physical presence, trying to memorize every detail in fear of losing him again. They climbed all the way up to the brunette's face, cupping it softly.

Makoto let out a light laugh, trying to soothe the tension in the air. He took one of the hands on his face, and held it in his own between them, giving the other a reassuring smile. "It's a long story." He tried to wave off, only to be given a stern look. _Look around, Makoto, we're in a bathtub for the rest of our apparent lives I have all the time in the world for this story_, the deep blue eyes communicated angrily.

And so, Makoto began, starting from his vain following of the boat, to meeting Rin and Gou, to their travels together until finally reaching the coast. He left some tidbits out, like Rin's kiss. It felt out of place, and wrong to discuss it, especially without the shark's presence. The matter was done with anyway. No need to open up old wounds.

"But how did you get _here_." Haruka persisted, his mouth forming a thin, impatient line. Makoto smiled awkwardly, looking off to the side.

"Well, I, err…Beached myself…" He trailed off, a bit self conscious of his own actions. They were incredibly stupid in hind sight, he could have easily died. It was miracle he even made it here.

Blue eyes widened at the thought, "Makoto!" And Makoto looked down at the dolphin in that moment-really looked. He saw the wide eyes, the slightly drawn eyebrows, and they shone with the absolute worry and guilt of putting him in this prison with him.

"It's ok, Haru." He offered in an effort to reassure him, taking his hands again in his own. Their warmth seemed to do little this time.

"Why would you leave the ocean? Why?" Haru insisted, confused and with a growing sense of anger at his friend's stupidity. He ripped his hands out of their hold to ball them into fists at his sides. All he had been longing for was to get back there…to swim in the wide seas again…How could Makoto just throw that all away so easily?

Makoto's face flashed with a semblance of hurt, he looked deeply into Haru's eyes, quieting him with his powerful gaze. It felt as if time had stopped between them as the orca spoke out in a sudden rush of emotion, "Because, it's meaningless without you! I want to swim with you!" He surged forward, grabbing the other's forearms to pull him close once more.

Haruka's eyes shined at the words, and he could feel the lightest of blushes stain his pale face. He looked away, biting his lip, not knowing how to respond to such a declaration.

Makoto reddened more so, embarrassed by the words that had tumbled out of him. He let go of the other, withdrawing slightly. He wanted to brush it off, saying something along the lines of "sorry if that sounded weird its nothing really!' but that made it seem so hollow. Those words had come from deep within and they only held the truth.

Haruka said nothing, but, after a painfully long moment, he did take back the other's hand, entwining their fingers just like back then. It felt so right. And Makoto cherished the feeling of completeness it gave him. He couldn't help the warm smile from growing on his face once more.

Haruka stared at the smile that had been absent from his life for far too long and realized he wanted to capture it forever. And so he did. With his hand occupied in the other's embrace, he leaned up and pressed his lips to Makoto's own and kissed him.

* * *

Sorry this is a bit late

this is a terribly written chapter sorryyyyyy sigh

i hope you guys enjoy anyway!

thank you for all the kind reviews omg

love y'all

see ya next week


	11. Chapter 11

Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.

* * *

Makoto had only been kissed once before-at least on the lips-and it had not been the most pleasant experience. It had been sudden, terrifying and invasive. It had only instilled the instinct to _get away_. And he had felt so awful afterwards because he truly _did_ care about Rin, surprisingly more than he had ever realized, but not like that. Never like that.

And it had hurt to reject him. Because it hurt to see his loved ones sad, especially if he was the one causing their anguish.

He had decided he didn't like kissing.

But when Haruka kissed, when he pressed his warm lips against his own, fiercely yet with a twinge of fragile hesitancy, he felt none of those things. All he felt was Haruka. And Haruka was safe and comforting, calm and caring, quiet and peaceful, and everything he needed right now to ease his frantically beating heart.

And so, tentatively, he kissed back. He raised his free hand to cup the dolphin's face and bring him closer. Haruka squeezed their captive hands in return, before quietly pulling away and blinking his blue eyes up at the orca.

Makoto's hand lingered on the smooth pale face, thumb idly smoothing out the cheek almost without his knowledge. The appendage soon slipped off as he moved to secure his arms loosely around the others waist.

They did not exchange a single word, all Makoto did was regain his smile and draw Haruka back into his enveloping embrace. The dolphin buried his face into the others shoulder, and let the silence hang around them. Each others presence was all that was needed or would ever be needed.

* * *

Rin's grip on the gray haired fish loosened at the fear in his bright blue eyes. He was shocked. And angry. And confused. How the hell did he know Gou? Especially if he wasn't there when they met? Gou couldn't just swim out to meet the neighbors! What was Nitori doing snooping around their cave?

Nitori floundered a little, moving away from the overbearing shark and looking down into the deep darkness of the sea. "It was a while ago… We were just prowling about our territory!"

"Who the fuck is 'we'!?" Rin demanded, tail lashing, even angrier at the thought there were two strangers acquainted with his baby sister.

"I-I was with another shark at the time!" He explained, throwing his hands up in surrender , "Any-Anyway, we could tell newcomers had come in-I guess you and Miss Kou were them, or one of them. We also spotted a weird rogue orca! But we kept clear of him, and we were beginning to think we would have to move on a to better spot when…"

~~~~~~~~~~ … ~~~~~~~~~~

Nitori fiddled beside the large, powerful shark, eyes glancing in every which direction, wary of intruders. "Mr. Seijurou, m-maybe we should just leave. Summer is going to start soon and the beach will only get more crowded…"

The shark frowned, letting out a sigh. His hair was a fiery red, his muscles were toned, and he dwarfed the much more timid fish beside him. But that did not mean he disregarded his words, "You're probably right…" He muttered, "But I'd like to give these intruders a piece of my mind!" He added, giving a confident toothy grin, "They got a lot of nerve encroaching on us!"

"I guess…" Nitori mumbled, no where near as enthusiastic as his companion.

Seijurou paused, looking over at his pilot fish before pulling him into a rough one hand embrace. "Listen here, kid! You need some more confidence! Don't just let life walk all over ya!" He offered. Nitori reddened and nodded, pulling away from the tight hold.

"But sometimes you have to know when you've been beaten…" He reminded quietly.

"Yeah, that's true too." Seijurou nodded, and yet remained ever positive. He paused, "Hey, you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Came the surprised slightly fear filled response.

"Smells like another shark." He growled, eyes narrowing in caution as he glanced around. Nitori instinctively moved closer to his guard, whirling around wide eyed for any sign of danger. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "It's coming from that cave!" Seijurou continued, grinning as he pointed at the hollowed out opening to the right, close to the surface of the ocean. He began swimming toward it, confidence exuding out of him, while Nitori tried to pull him back.

"Mr. Seijurou! It's dangerous! We sh-should just go somewhere else…" The fish pleaded to no avail. The shark had made up his mind, and his stroke only grew more determined as he made his way to the mouth of the cave.

The pair slipped in, Nitori pressing close against his side in fear, as the darkness enveloped them. They were silent, tense. The cave seemed to go on forever, and Seijurou debated turning back in defeat. Perhaps his rival was out hunting.

That is, until a piercing shriek erupted through the darkness, and pain sank into his shoulder. Nitori let out his own squawk of surprise as the small shark, who had suddenly sprang from the blackest corner, sank her sharp teeth into his friend's shoulder.

Seijurou let out a snarl, shoving the girl off of him with a powerful movement of his arm. She smacked against the cave wall with a grunt. He clutched his bleeding shoulder, teeth gritted and eyes narrowed furiously. Nitori backed away from the fight. It wasn't like he was any match for a shark. His presence would only be a hindrance.

The girl fell in a heap onto the cave floor, wincing, before collecting herself and scurrying backwards into the safety of the dark. Seijurou wasn't going to let her get away with that though, and immediately darted after her, a growl growing in his chest. Not just anyone could land a blow on his impressive physique and live to tell the tale!

Nitori curled up in fright, waiting to hear the familiar sounds of a blood curdling fight. And they certainly came, but they did not last very long. And soon there was only a gasp and hushed whispering. The gray haired boy's eyebrows furrowed, confusion wracking his erratic heart. He edged towards the shadows, "Mr. Seijurou? Are you alright?!"

Seijurou popped his head out, "I'm fine! Don't worry!" He called, with a wave of his hand, "We're not fighting anymore!" He wore a cheeky grin, a red tint to his cheeks that matched the blood still dripping from his wound.

Wel,l this was odd.

Nitori blinked, "…Why not?" He managed to voice out, shock almost freezing his tongue in place.

Seijurou let out a laugh, coming out fully into the light, still holding his bleeding shoulder but looking no worse for ware. Hesitantly, the girl slipped out too, looking red in the face and keeping her distance, remaining tense. "You know I don't like fights that ain't fair." He continued, as if that clarified everything so easily.

"I can handle myself perfectly fine." The girl shark bit out, shooting him a look. "Plus, I was the only one who landed a blow." She reminded, her tone tinged in hard fought victory. She had long red hair that flowed around her in the water beautiful. It's shade was more muted than his shark companion, but no less stunning.

Seijurou smiled, "That you did! And boy does it sting. Nitori, help me out here!" He called, and the smaller boy finally managed to summon the courage to scamper over quickly to examine the wound. Hurt or not, the shark did not miss a beat, continuing easily, "So what's your name, sweetheart?"

"Gou-I mean, I like to be called Kou, though." She stammered out, the red growing at her misstep. She couldn't tell if the shark was listening though, as he continued to simply smile at her. She needed to calm down. She had been terrified at the invasion. She knew she was no match for another shark in her condition-not that she would ever go out without a fight. But still. The entire situation was throwing her off. She didn't know what to make of it. She didn't know what to make of any of this. It was quite awkward.

_"_Uh," Nitori offered, reading the atmosphere just as clearly as her, "We're very sorry to intrude upon your cave!" He apologized, beginning to nudge his companion back out. "We'll take our leave!"

"Oh. Ok…" She replied, slightly surprised and oddly…slightly disappointed. She had never been with another shark before. Other than her brother and her father. In fact, she had lived a fairly isolated life, this whole journey with the orca being quite novel to her. Novel and exciting!

"Hey! So, uh, you wanna hang out some time maybe?" Seijurou called, craning his neck back as he was dragged out, "Like I could bring you something to eat and we could talk and stuff?" The lopsided dopey smile was still on his face, his eyes never breaking from her form, even as the pilot fish's grip on his arm became more insistent.

She blinked at the proposal, "Umm, ok? I guess?" She responded, still quite confused at exactly what she wanted to make of the entire situation. She did like meeting new people..and things were still awkward between her brother and Makoto for reasons she still did not understand. It would be nice to talk to someone else. She could only take her broth-slight worry quickly darted through her eyes, "W-wait! Umm, you have to come in the evenings! Otherwise, my brother might see you…"

She didn't know why she didn't want Rin to meet the other shark…probably because they would fight to the death…yeah, that was it. No other reason.

"Brother?" Seijurou repeated, a slight frown alighting his features. He quickly washed them away, his smile resurfacing, "Alright! I'll be back tomorrow night!"

~~~~~~~~~~ … ~~~~~~~~~~

"My sister would never keep secrets from me!" Rin suddenly interrupted, infuriated, "You're a fucking liar or he fucking manipulated her!" He was absolutely seething at the very thought of some rogue dangerous shark harassing his sister, endangering her.

Nitori swam a bit back, surprised at the outburst, flinching, "I-I'm not lying! Please, Mr. Rin! H-Hear me out…" He pleaded, raising his hands up in surrender once more. The tactic always seemed to work.

Rin gritted his teeth, grumbling out, "Fine."

_"_Well, basically…Mr. Seijurou and I would visit every day in the evening and they would talk and it was kind of awkward. For me. After a while they kind of forgot I was there…so I would kind of stay outside of the cave so i dont exactly know what h-happened-I'M SURE IT WASN'T ANYTHING YOU'RE THINKING MR. RIN!" Nitori shouted quickly, seeing the growing red, furious face of his companion. He backed away a bit more, "Seijurou was a really nice shark ok! He wouldn't do anything bad! And Miss Kou seemed to like him a-alot!"

All Rin did was continue to glare. Nitori fell silent.

"So, what happened?" Rin pressed, albeit curious even though he was furious.

"Well…they…they were killed."

* * *

"But why a whistle?" Makoto hissed, looking over at Haruka in confusion, eyes wincing as the sound stung his ears. The dolphin looked unaffected, simply shrugging his shoulders. Although he did squeeze the other's hand comfortingly.

"Humans are weird." was his only response.

Makoto nodded slowly, turning his gaze back toward the two humans he recognized from the beach. Haru had named them Blue and Yellow-which he thought was mean but what else was there to call them-and they were currently trying to get their attention.

"But what do they want?" The orca continued, starting to get alarmed at the frantic blond's erratic behavior. He was waving his arms about and constantly blowing into that awful whistle.

Haruka shrugged again, dipping back down into the water to swim toward his trainers. Makoto hesitated but soon followed after his best friend, trusting in his judgement. He got a pat on his head for his trouble, which he wasn't sure if he enjoyed but certainly wasn't averse to.

Haruka for one, didn't seem all that perturbed by the human contact, which surprised the orca a lot. Haruka was usually uncomfortable with others, especially others in his close proximity. It was only Makoto he let through.

But Blue and Yellow seemed to have gotten through…

Something uncomfortable swirled in the larger cetacean's stomach at the thought and he quickly ignored it.

"Nagisa, what, exactly, are you planning?" Rei sighed out, looking at his coworker with a frown. Ngaisa had that _look_ on his face, the one that terrified him. The calculated smirk and manipulative shine in his eye that sent shivers down his spine and did not bode well for anyone.

"Well, all we gotta do is make a show. We're gonna advertise this duo and rake in so much cash no one'll think of separating them! Duh." Nagisa explained away easily, smirk only growing as he talked.

"Yes but _how_?" He was absolutely exasperated with the other.

"Well," Nagisa began, scratching his cheek lightly, "I was thinkin' of having them come in separately, each do their own little thing, and then have them come together and do jumps and flips together. Maybe play some cute emotional music, ya feel me?" He recounted, "Oh! But the best part is the name I thought up! It's the best name ever! Get excited!"

Rei stared at him.

"Get excited, I said! Are you excited?" The blond repeated, absolutely brimming.

"I'm scared."

Nagisa let out a laugh, clapping the other's shoulder loudly, "No, listen! Call it, 'Dolphino and Orcalette'. Get it?" The blond's smile grew bigger as he looked over for approval.

Rei grimaced, "Nagisa-"

"Get it?" Nagisa repeated, "Like Romeo and Juliette but a Dolphin and an Orca!"

"It's dumb, Nagisa." came the honest response.

"No, its not! It's perfect!" came the denial.

"They're both male." Rei continued, trying to think of anything to keep this from becoming a reality.

"So? What the audience don't know cant hurt 'em." Nagisa brushed off just as easily.

"Please dont call the show that awful pun." The blue haired man bemoaned, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Best pun." Nagisa corrected, and the slump in the others shoulders alerted him of his victore.

"It's not beautiful." Rei hung his head in defeat, weeping internally at the shame of it all. Nagisa only continued his cruel laugh. The glasses wearing man sighed, turning back to the two dolphins to hand Haru a fish for his patience.

Haruka ate the fish contently, and Makoto couldn't help but smile at the peace exuding from his friend. He had been so worried, worried the other was still hurt-

"Haru!" He shouted suddenly, turning away from the humans and taking the other's hand quickly and examining it closely. The dolphin tensed up instinctively, staring at the orca inquisitively before forcing the appendage to relax. "Your arm! Are you ok? Rin…"

Haruka blinked at the name in confusion, looking down at the arm, memories of the shark flashing in his brain. There was a scar, but it had healed relatively well. "I'm fine."

Makoto traced the raised skin, frowning deeply. It sent shivers up the dolphin's spine and he had half the mind to pull his arm back. But it was Makoto so it was ok and he let him be.

"I'm so sorry." Makoto whispered, "If…If I'd been quicker-If I hadn't been _so afraid_ I could have-"

"Shut up, Makoto." Came the dry response, hand pulling back softly, "You worry too much."

The brunet stared at him, a sad smile on his face, "I guess."

Haruka didn't like that smile at all. "Stop that." He ordered, "You're hurt too." He reminded, pointing at the other's wounded tail.

Makoto blinked at the sudden statement, laughing lightly at the hint of a pout on the other's face. He brought the dark haired boy into a hug-an act he found himself doing more and more often. Haruka allowed it.

"I'm fine." The brunet echoed, swishing his tail behind him in proof. Haruka nodded, burying his head into the orca's chest. "Haru, are you happy?"

"I hate it here." Was the honest, instaneous response.

Makoto frowned, "You do?"

"It's boring. I want…I want to swim in the ocean again."

"I'm sorry." The brunette murmured into his short hair, wondering if there would ever be the possibility of escaping the human prison. He would certainly try. For Haru.

"But," Haruka continued after a moment, lifting his head to look at the brunet's face and letting the smallest of smiles slip his stoic face, "It's not so bad if Makoto is here too." The sentence felt selfish on his tongue but all Makoto did was let out a happy squeal and hug him tighter, making the smaller's cheeks tint the lightest of pinks.

Yes, if Makoto was here it was better.

* * *

"Mr. Seijurou was visiting Miss Kou like usual, and I was keeping busy swimming around the cave when I heard a commotion. I should have recognized you! I don't know how I didn't…I was…I was trying to forget I guess! But it was certainly you, coming back much too early and Miss Kou was distraught that you would find Mr. Seijurou but then _you_ were distraught and started to swim away. Mr. Seijurou tried to calm Miss Kou down but she was very upset that she couldn't stop you from going and was cursing herself a lot, oh it was awful to hear!"

Rin didn't know if he wanted to hear the rest, what with his heart tightening in guilt and his hands fisting at his sides. He knew how this story was going to end. And he preferred not to relive it. He was such an idiot, leaving his sister behind for a killer whale. How could he have? He gritted his teeth but kept quiet as the pilot fish continued rambling his story with difficulty.

"And then…And then fishermen came…And, Miss Kou had her head out to look for you but then she saw them and quickly sank back down but it was too late and…and…" Nitori took a deep breath, biting his lip. He was starting to cry but he pushed through, even as his voice threatened to give out, "And then, Mr. Seijurou he…He pulled her back right then and the harpoon speared him and he-he-he _smiled_ up at her. And I think he said something but I couldn't hear him. And he fell into the darkness of the sea and I don't know what Miss Kou did after that because I was rushing after him. But i did hear her scream and I-I didn't know what to do! It was all so fast and Mr. Seijurou just kept sinking! And I finally reached him and he was already so cold and his face was so pale but he died smiling of course that fool but I couldn't help him at all…I was useless. I…I'm sorry M-Mr. Rin. I could not..I did not..I…I'm so sorry."

And Rin was sorry too. Because the wound was still so fresh and he wanted his sister to be alive. And he was sorry because even though the little pilot fish was crying now in front of him he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He guessed he really was a coward. He had nothing to say. There was nothing to say. The reality wasn't going to change no matter what words were exchanged.

He turned away and started to swim, glaring at the distance without really looking. And he kept swimming, ignoring his rumbling stomach to focus on his own turmoil. How was he even supposed to be happy in life with everyone he cared aboutgone?

He paused and turned around, realizing the pilot fish was no where in sight. He hadn't followed him. Almost without his permission his name slipped through his parted lips, "Nitori?" He felt dumb for saying it. Why had he expected him to follow when he hadn't consoled him at all? He felt oddly disappointed. He shook the feeling away.

Maybe he was just meant to be alone.

* * *

And bam another one

also so ive used up my buffer for this story cause i havent been able to write much with college keepin me busy

i still plan to keep up the schedule but if there are delays thats why sorryyyyy

thank you for reading! reviews are lovely


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